RED  RUBBER 

■©6c  STORY  OF  THE 
RUBBER  SLAVE  TRADE 
ON  THE  CONGO 


E.D.  MOREL 


Divisioa  DT65£ 
Section  •M83 


V . , ■■•  ■, 

.>-  • 


w 


I <; 


’ •■  ' i'i 


^i- 


RED  RUBBER 


# . Z'  .■ 

-..iv 


IMPONGI,  A BOY  OF  ILLNEGA 
Mutilated  by  State  Soldiers 


RED  RUBBER 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  RUBBER  SLAVE 
TRADE  FLOURISHING  ON  THE 
CONGO  IN  THE  YEAR  OF  GRACE  1906 


AUTHOR  OF  “affairs  OF  WEST  AFRICA,”  “THE  BRITISH  CASK  IN 
FRENCH  CONGO,”  “KING  LEOPOLD’S  RULE  IN  AFRICA,”  “THE 
TREATMENT  OF  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN  IN  THE  CONGO  STATE,” 
“THE  CONGO  SLAVE-STATE,”  “THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  TROPICAL 
AFRICA  BY  THE  WHITE  RACES,”  “LE  CONGO  L#.OPOLDIEN” 


SIR  HARRY  H.  JOHNSTON,  G.  C.  M.  G.,  K.  C.  B. 

AND  TWO  MARS 


E.  D.  MOREL 


(WITH  PIERRE  MILLE),  ETC.,  ETC. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 


NEW  YORK 

THE  NASSAU  PRINT 


150  NASSAU  STREET 


(All  rights  reserved) 


“ The  standard  of  emancipation  is  now  unfurled. 

Let  all  the  enemies  of  the  persecuted  blacks  tremble. 

I will  be  as  harsh  as  truth  and  as  uncompromising  as  justice. 
I am  in  earnest ; 

I will  not  equivocate  ; 

I will  not  excuse  ; 

I will  not  retreat  a single  inch  ; 

And  I will  be  heard. 

Posterity  will  bear  testimony  that  I was  right." 

William  Lloyd  Garrison. 


V 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

By  Sir  Harry  Johnston 

In  June,  1905,  I took  the  chair,  very  unwillingly,  at  an 
important  meeting  held  by  the  Congo  Reform  Association, 
which  was  intended  to  bring  before  the  British  public  the 
need  for  a drastic  reform  in  the  Government  of  the  Congo 
Free  State.  My  “ unwillingness  ” was  due  at  that  time 
partly  to  a belief  that  the  King  of  the  Belgians  (not  having 
then  received  the  full  report  of  his  Committee  of  Inquiry) 
was  still  loath  to  believe  in  the  results  of  his  commercial 
policy,  and  in  the  effect  produced  on  the  natives  of  the 
Congo  by  the  methods  which  his  officials  adopted  to  produce 
a revenue.  Also  I entered  the  arena  of  strife  with  great 
reluctance  because  I realised  that  our  own  past  Colonial 
history  and  that  of  other  European  nations  in  Africa  was 
very  far  from  being  stainless,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  I had 
known  Belgians  on  the  Congo  (and  had  seen  them  at  work) 
whose  efforts  to  introduce  stable  and  civilised  government 
were  altogether  praiseworthy.  I was  unwilling  to  join  in 
any  movement  which  might  be  directed  against  Belgium  or 
Belgian  enterprise,  and  only  accepted  the  disagreeable 
position  of  Chairman  at  this  meeting  because  I was  perhaps 
the  only  survivor  of  the  band  of  Congo  explorers  who, 
between  1879  and  1884  had  visited  the  interior  Congo 
regions,  and  had  seen  them  when  they  were  utterly  un- 
influenced by  the  white  man,  and  before  and  after  they  had 
been  threatened  with  Arab  domination.  My  attitude  at  the 
meeting  in  question  was  that  of  one  desiring  to  find  a way 
out  of  a difficult  position  for  a Sovereign  whose  name  was 

vii 


Introductory 


still  associated  in  my  memory  with  some  of  the  best 
intentions  ever  expressed  on  paper  regarding  Africa. 

Not  long  afterwards,  the  report  of  the  King-Sovereign’s 
Commission  was  issued.  Whether  the  report  was  published 
exactly  as  sent  in  by  the  Commissioners  is  open  to  question. 
But  taking  it  in  the  form  in  which  it  received  the  imprimatur 
of  King  Leopold  himself,  it  was  a sufficient  justification  of  the 
accusations  levelled  at  the  Congo  Free  State  by  Mr.  Morel, 
by  various  British  missionaries  and  travellers,  and  by  Swedes, 
Frenchmen,  and  Italians.  But  in  one’s  desire  to  judge  as 
charitably  as  possible  a man  who  might  have  been  misled, 
one  saw  that  a logical  corollary  to  the  publication  of 
this  report  would  be  an  attempt  made  by  King  Leopold  to 
sweep  away  a system  which  has  been  one  of  the  most 
shocking — one  of  the  few  shocking — results  of  white  inter- 
vention in  Negro  Africa.  A year  has  passed  since  the 
publication  of  this  report,  and  creditable  testimony  tends 
rather  to  show  that  the  evils  complained  of  in  Congo 
territories  have  been  intensified,  while  the  direct  utterances 
of  the  King  of  the  Belgians  on  the  subject  of  his  work  on 
the  Congo  are  deplorable  in  their  sardonic  indifference  to  the 
real  condition  of  the  natives  of  the  great  African  dominion 
which  Europe  entrusted  to  his  charge. 

So  far  as  I am  aware,  if  Mr.  Morel  had  consulted  his  own 
interests  he  would  never  have  undertaken,  and  he  certainly 
would  not  have  maintained,  his  long  crusade  against  the  work 
of  the  Congo  Free  State.  Neither  was  it  to  the  interest  of 
the  English  Baptist  missionaries  to  put  before  the  world  the 
damning  evidence  they  have  supplied  on  the  evils  of  Congo 
Free  State  government.  In  the  early  stages  of  their  mission 
(I  can  speak  as  an  eye-witness),  they  afforded  the  infant 
Congo  State  the  most  whole-hearted  support.  When  I 
first  visited  the  western  regions  of  the  Congo  it  was  in  the 
days  of  dawning  Imperialism,  when  most  young  Britishers 
abroad  could  conceive  of  no  better  fate  for  an  undeveloped 
country  than  to  come  under  the  British  flag.  The  outcome 
of  Stanley’s  work  seemed  to  me  clear  ; it  should  be  eventu- 
ally the  Britannicising  of  much  of  the  Congo  Basin,  perhaps 
in  friendly  agreement  and  partition  of  interests  with  France 
and  Portugal.  But  Stanley  himself  was  working  really 

viii 


Introductory 

towards  the  creation  of  a larger  Liberia,  and  the  Secretary  of 
his  Committee,  the  Belgian  Colonel  Strauch,  like  his  com- 
patriot, Colonel  Wauvermans,  was  eagerly  in  favour  of  this 
“ international  ” solution  of  the  question.  With  them  again 
sided  the  Baptist  missionaries  Comber,  Grenfell,  and  Bentley, 
who  anticipated  troubles  and  bloodshed  arising  from  any 
attempt  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  to  subdue  the  vast  and 
unknown  regions  of  the  Congo,  not  even  then  clearly 
threatened  by  Arabs.  They  indeed  resented  the  coming  of 
the  French  or  of  the  Portuguese.  A larger  Liberia,  devised 
on  more  practical  lines,  was  the  ideal  which  they  believed 
the  King  of  the  Belgians  was  pursuing  as  a pure  philan- 
thropist. It  was  known  that  the  King,  by  shrewd  invest- 
ments in  the  Suez  Canal  shares  and  in  other  directions,  had 
made — by  most  respectable  methods — a considerable  fortune. 
He  had  also  spoken  publicly  of  devoting  the  money  that 
had  belonged  to  his  dead  son  to  some  noble  purpose  in  the 
world.  He  had,  in  fact,  attempted  the  regeneration  of 
Negro  Africa  by  a kind  of  International  Board  before 
Stanley’s  discovery  of  the  Congo.  One  of  his  agents — 
Captain  Storms — had  reached  Tanganyika,  and  had  effected 
wonders  in  arming  the  natives  against  the  Arab  slave-traders. 
The  work  of  Storms  had  been  most  generously  appreciated 
by  the  missionaries  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  on 
Tanganyika,  and  news  of  it  had  just  reached  their  colleagues 
of  different  denominations  who  were  at  work  on  the  Congo. 
In  short,  every  one  who  was  any  one  in  the  missionary 
world,  or  in  that  section  of  London  society  devoted  to 
philanthropic  ideals  (such  as  the  Baroness  Burdett-Coutts, 
the  present  Earl  Grey,  Cardinal  Manning,  Sir  Harry  Verney, 
Sir  William  Mackinnon)  decried  any  attempt  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain  to  import  base  commercial  ambitions  into  the 
political  settlement  of  Equatorial  Africa,  and  hailed  King 
Leopold  as  the  man  who  would  gradually  raise  the  millions 
of  Central  African  Negroes  to  a condition  of  peaceable  self- 
government,  free,  on  the  one  hand,  from  the  curse  of  the 
Arab,  and,  on  the  other,  from  the  alcoholising  European. 

These  men  of  the  Baptist  Missions  of  America  and  Great 
Britain  so  frequently  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  the 
Congo  Free  State  in  its  early  days  that  it  must  have  cost 

ix 


Introductory 

them  much  to  testify  in  later  times  against  that  form  of 
government. 

I wished  on  the  occasion  of  the  public  meeting  already 
referred  to,  and  I wish  again  in  these  few  introductory 
words,  to  testify  to  the  good  work  which  has  been  done  by 
Belgians  in  the  Congo  Free  State,  and  to  dissociate  the 
country  of  Belgium  from  the  odium  with  which  her 
Monarch  is  now  regarded  by  educated  people  in  Europe, 
Africa,  and  America.  The  names  of  Ni/is^  VangUe^  Orban, 
Coquilhat,  Hanssens^  Meura^  Storms  (and  many  others  with 
whom  I was  not  personally  acquainted)  should  be  recorded 
as  those  of  men  who  attempted  to  do  great  things  for  the 
Congo  people,  and  on  whose  records  there  has  been  no  stain. 
If  there  have  been  bad  Belgians  on  the  Congo,  there  have 
been  bad  Englishmen,  ruthless  Frenchmen,  pitiless  Swedes, 
cruel  Danes,  unscrupulous  Italians.  Belgium  has  only  to 
bear  the  brunt  of  the  movement  which  is  now  threatening 
the  existence  of  the  Congo  Free  State,  in  its  present  form, 
because  the  Sovereign  of  that  mis-governed  State  is  also  King 
of  the  Belgians.  Many  of  us  have  felt,  and  still  feel,  that 
when  the  King’s  autocratic  rule  as  Sovereign  over  this 
African  dominion  had  been  proved  to  be  such  an  appalling 
blot  on  the  history  of  European  intervention  in  Africa  as  to 
be  no  longer  tolerated,  that  the  individual  sacrifices  made  by 
Belgium  and  by  the  Belgian  people  should  be  recognised 
by  the  handing  over  of  the  Congo  Free  State  to  Belgium 
as  a Belgian  Protectorate,  a region  which  Belgium  might 
endeavour  to  administer  as  England,  Germany,  and  Portugal 
administer  Eastern  Africa  ; and  France,  England,  and 
Portugal  deal  with  Western  Africa.  The  creation  of  a 
huge  independent  African  State  in  the  basin  of  the  Congo 
is  felt  to  be  an  impossibility  in  the  present  state  of  Negro 
development  in  those  regions.  To  divide  this  vast  country 
between  the  colonial  dominions  of  the  limitrophe  Powers 
might  be  productive  of  jealousy  and  other  embarrassments. 
Belgium,  we  thought,  fully  deserved  a share  of  the  unde- 
veloped surface  of  the  earth  as  an  outlet  for  her  energies  : 
“let  her  then”  (said  many)  “take  over  the  Congo  and 
govern  it  as  a Constitutional  Monarchy  does  govern  a 
foreign  dominion.” 


X 


Introductory 


But  it  would  seem  as  though  Belgium  were  unable  to 
take  up  the  burden,  either  because  her  public  men  and 
institutions  are  too  much  under  the  control  of  the  present 
Sovereign,  or  because  she  is  not  rich  enough  in  men  or 
money  to  undertake  such  a mighty  task.  If  this  is  the  case, 
then  there  would  seem  to  be  no  escape  from  the  present 
deadlock  : an  International  Conference  should  once  more  be 
summoned  to  meet  at  Berlin,  the  Hague,  or  Paris,  and  the 
Congo  State  must  be  remodelled  by  its  original  creators. 

Whatever  its  fate  may  be,  let  us  hope  that  it  will  not  be 
an  International  enterprise  ! There  is  as  yet  no  Inter- 
national Conscience,  though  such  a thing  is  beginning  to 
come  into  existence.  The  state  of  what  is  now  the  Anglo- 
Egyptian  Sudan  under  the  nominal  rule  of  the  Khedives 
between  1850  and  1882  was  somewhat  analogous  to  the 
present  condition  of  the  Congo  Free  State.  Though  the 
Khedive  was  titular  lord,  the  agents  he  employed  to  conquer 
and  administer  the  basin  of  the  Nile  were  of  many  nation- 
alities, and  their  doings  did  not  appeal  singly  to  the 
conscience  of  any  one  state.  Some  of  Gordon’s  most 
trusted  lieutenants  relate  in  their  reports  of  military  action 
against  the  Arab  slave-traders  and  their  native  following,  or 
against  the  independent  native  sultans  of  the  Bahr-al- 
Ghazal,  how  their  cannibal  levies  (from  regions  which 
have  subsequently  furnished  troops  to  the  King  of  the 
Belgians)  found  their  commissariat  in  the  bodies  of  the 
slain.  Many  of  the  Congo  horrors  were  anticipated  under 
the  rule  of  British,  Italian,  American,  French,  German, 
Greek,  and  Turkish  officials  in  the  pay  of  the  Egyptian 
Khedive. 

In  like  manner  there  has  been  no  national  conscience  to 
appeal  to,  other  perhaps  than  that  of  Belgium  (indirectly 
concerned),  in  the  government  of  the  Congo  Free  State. 
Crimes  and  mistakes  have  been  committed  by  the  French  in 
their  adjoining  territories.  Some  episodes  in  the  early 
history  of  the  Uganda  Protectorate,  in  the  creation  of 
Rhodesia,  in  Sierra  Leone,  in  Ashanti,  have  been  written 
up  in  the  world’s  ledger  against  Great  Britain.  Germany 
has  had  to  reveal,  face,  and  erase  many  a scandal  in  the 
Cameroons,  in  South-West  and  in  East  Africa.  Portugal 

xi 


Introductory 

is  now  confronted  with  serious  charges  against  her  adminis- 
tration of  Inner  Angola.  But  in  all  these  instances  there  is 
the  conscience  of  a nation  to  appeal  to  ; the  country  at 
fault  is  one  governed  by  constitutional  methods,  and  the 
voice  of  the  people  when  once  they  are  acquainted  with  the 
wrongdoing  attributable  to  their  fellow-countrymen  insists 
on  amendment.  But  in  the  case  of  the  Congo  Free  State, 
there  is  only  one  conscience  to  appeal  to,  that  of  King 
Leopold,  a conscience  which  seems  indurated  against 
evidence,  against  shame,  against  the  terror  of  an  immortality 
of  bad  renown. 

I am  still  anxious  that  this  question  should  be  treated 
without  hysterics.  Let  me  say,  therefore,  for  the  consola- 
tion of  any  who  may  be  wringing  their  hands  over  the 
present  condition  of  the  Congo  Free  State,  that  the  Congo 
Basin  was  not  a region  of  ideal  happiness  and  peace  for  the 
Negro  before  the  white  man  or  the  Arab  broke  in  upon  the 
life  of  the  Stone  Age,  burst  upon  primitive  peoples  who  had 
lost  all  contact  with  the  Caucasian  for  two  thousand  years. 

Before  1879  the  Congo  Basin  west  of  the  longitude  of 
Stanley  Pool  was  a region  fairly  well  populated  by  Negroes 
in  a very  low  state  of  civilisation.  Some,  like  the  Pygmies, 
had  not  left  the  hunter  stage.  Others  were  agriculturists 
and  fishermen,  keeping  few  domestic  animals,  and  culti- 
vating but  few  plants.  They  were  not  so  much  subject  as 
at  the  present  day  to  the  ravages  of  epidemics  like  smallpox 
and  sleeping  sickness,  because  each  cluster  of  villages,  each 
small  tribe  of  a few  thousand  people,  was  usually  at  war 
with  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  communications  between 
one  congeries  of  settlements  and  another  were  uncertain 
and  interrupted.  It  was,  in  fact,  a region  of  isolated  tribes 
and  communities,  almost  the  whole  of  which,  except  in  the 
south,  were  confirmed  cannibals.  In  the  northern  half  of 
the  Congo  Free  State  incessant  wars  and  slave  raids  took 
place,  not  with  a view  to  supplying  labour,  but  with  the 
intention  of  obtaining  wives,  and,  above  all,  victims  for  the 
cannibal  feasts. 

In  the  southern  half  of  the  Congo  Basin  the  slave-trade 
was  in  full  swing,  had  been  for  one  or  two  centuries, 
prompted  chiefly  by  the  British,  Portuguese,  and 

xii 


Introductory 


Americans.  Portuguese  half-castes  ranged  right  across 
the  Congo  Basin  from  Angola  to  Tanganyika,  and  to  the 
borders  of  what  is  now  Rhodesia.  Through  their  supplies 
of  guns  and  powder  one  tribe  conquered  another,  and 
empires  were  built  up  containing  a degree  of  civilisation 
approaching  that  of  modern  Uganda.  Cannibalism  may 
have  been  wiped  out  by  this  rise  in  civilisation,  but  a slave- 
trade  for  the  supply  of  labour  in  distant  countries  took  its 
place  as  an  incentive  to  constant  wars.  An  advance  in 
religious  ideas  accentuated  cruelties  connected  with  fetish 
practices  and  a belief  in  sorcery.  Then,  of  course,  many 
of  the  people  lost  their  lives  from  the  attacks  of  lions, 
leopards,  elephants,  hippopotamuses,  and  crocodiles. 

No  ; the  condition  of  man  in  the  Congo  Basin  was  very 
far  from  a state  of  happiness  before  the  Arab  penetrated 
these  regions  from  the  East  Coast  and  the  European  from 
the  West.  The  Arabs  did  much  to  suppress  cannibalism 
and  to  introduce  a far  higher  standard  of  comfort,  and 
many  important  articles  of  food.  But  they  carried  the 
ravages  of  the  slave-trade  further  and  further,  depopulating 
a district  before  they  settled  it  anew  with  their  domestic 
slaves. 

The  King  of  the  Belgians  stood  forward  as  the  champion 
of  what  was  best  in  European  civilisation,  and  all  that  was 
to  regenerate  this  vast  region  of  potential  wealth  : too 
thickly  inhabited  by  a vigorous  race  to  be  regarded  as  a 
No  Man’s  Land,  and  yet  devoid  of  any  indigenous  govern- 
ment which  could  establish  law  and  order.  It  is  no  excuse 
for  the  evil  doings  of  the  Congo  Free  State  that  the  Congo 
Basin  was  a land  of  much  misery  before  King  Leopold  took 
it  in  hand. 

Neither  is  it  any  palliative  to  point  to  the  mistakes 
which  the  principal  countries  of  Europe  have  made  in  their 
attempt  to  better  the  African’s  condition  on  his  own  con- 
tinent. Most  of  the  countries  of  Western  and  Central 
Europe  embarked  on  African  enterprises  with  no  protesta- 
tions of  high  philanthropy.  They  wanted  an  outlet  for 
their  manufactures,  a colony  for  their  superfluous  popula- 
tion, or  a field  for  national  aggrandisement.  I do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  the  general  results  of  their  work,  even 

xiii 


Introductory 


if  it  was  undertaken  from  no  high  motive,  have,  on  the 
whole,  produced  regions  of  greater  happiness,  denser  popula- 
tion, and  a higher  standard  of  human  life  than  could  be 
ascribed  to  those  portions  of  Africa  prior  to  European 
control.  ■ 

But  the  genesis  of  the  Congo  Free  State  was  vastly 
different  from  the  general  standpoint  of  the  European 
partition  of  Africa.  To  judge  of  this  one  has  only  to 
read  the  speeches  and  letters  of  the  King  of  the  Belgians 
himself  between  the  years  1875  and  1894.  Over  and  over 
again  he  declared  that  his  one  object  in  entering  on  this 
African  enterprise  was  disinterested.  At  the  outside  he  only 
desired  to  get  back  his  out-of-pocket  expenses.  If  ever 
there  was  a portion  of  Africa  in  which  a ruler’s  private 
profits  from  State  monopolies  were  precluded  by  an  honour- 
able adhesion  to  first  principles,  it  was  the  Congo  Free 
State. 

A few  words  as  to  the  logic  of  my  own  position  as  a 
critic  of  King  Leopold’s  rule  on  the  Congo.  I have  been 
reminded  in  some  of  the  publications  issued  by  the  Congo 
Government  that  I have  instituted  a Hut  Tax  in  regions 
entrusted  to  my  administration  ; that  I have  created  Crown 
Lands  which  have  become  the  property  of  the  Government ; 
that  as  an  agent  of  that  Government  I have  sold  and  leased 
portions  of  African  soil  to  European  traders  ; that  I have 
favoured,  or  at  any  rate  have  not  condemned  the  assumption 
by  an  African  State  of  control  over  natural  sources  of 
wealth  ; that  I have  advocated  measures  which  have  in- 
stalled the  European  as  the  master — for  the  time  being — 
over  the  uncivilised  Negro  or  the  semi-civilised  Somali, 
Arab,  or  Berber. 

All  these  charges  may  be  true  without  the  admission 
constituting  any  sort  of  apology  for  the.  results  of  twenty- 
one  years  of  King  Leopold’s  government  in  the  Congo 
Free  State.  As  regards  the  Negro  or  any  other  backward 
race,  I am  not  a sentimentalist.  I have  no  pity  in  retro- 
spect for  the  sufferings  of  the  Celtic  and  Iberian  inhabitants 
of  Great  Britain  during  their  conquest  by  the  Romans,  I do 
not  regret  the  Norman  remodelling  of  England.  These 
movements  have  done  much  to  make  the  United  Kingdom 


XIV 


Introductory 


one  of  the  foremost  amongst  the  civilised  free  nations. 
The  greater  part  of  Africa  has  got  to  submit  to  a similar 
discipline.  There  are  many  tribes  of  Negroes  at  the 
present  day  who  are  leading  lives  not  much  superior  in 
intellectual  advancement  to  those  of  brutes  ; but  there  is  not 
an  existing  race  of  men  in  Africa  that  is  not  emphatically 
human  and  capable  of  improvement.  Yet  I do  not  think 
that  they  are  to  be  improved  by  European  tutors  without 
some  effort  on  their  own  part.  They  should  contribute 
reasonably,  and  with  due  regard  to  the  happiness  of  their 
own  lives,  to  the  public  resources  of  their  country.  Taxa- 
tion which  is  not  oppressive  must  be  imposed.  If  the  adult 
native  cannot  pay  his  contribution  in  money  he  can  furnish 
it  in  labour.  But  the  assessment  of  his  contribution  to  the 
income  of  his  own  country  must  be  strictly  proportionate 
to  his  means ; in  other  words,  to  that  share  of  happiness  and 
enjoyment  of  life  to  which  he  is  entitled  like  any  other 
human  being.  The  Crown  Lands,  the  control  of  which  is 
assumed  by  the  British  Government,  or  by  the  Government 
of  any  civilised  state  in  Africa,  are — or  should  be — ad- 
ministered first  and  foremost  in  the  interest  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  they  are  situated.  For  example,  revenue 
derived  from  the  Crown  Lands  in  British  Central  Africa 
or  in  Uganda  goes  to  meet  the  cost  of  the  administration 
of  those  countries  and  the  maintenance  of  law  and  order 
therein,  of  the  construction  of  public  works,  the  prevention 
of  disease,  the  improvement  of  communications,  the 
advancement  of  education.  The  utmost  gain  to  us  that  is 
derived  from  this  administration  of  state  monopolies  is  the 
easing  of  the  pocket  of  the  British  taxpayer.  Even  if 
(which  is  not  the  case)  the  administration  of  these  public 
lands  gradually  re-paid  to  the  British  taxpayer  the  moneys 
he  has  invested  in  founding  these  new  Protectorates,  I 
should  not  think  the  principle  an  unjust  one  ; since  a good 
deal  of  the  work  done  by  England,  France,  Italy,  Portugal, 
and  Germany  in  Africa  has  been  purely  philanthropic. 
Money  and  valuable  lives  have  been  spent  in  putting  down 
devastating  wars  amongst  the  natives  or  in  repelling  cruel 
invaders  like  the  Arabs  or  the  Tawareq,  Abyssinians, 
or  Fulas.  A fairlv  safe  and  happy  existence  has  been 

XV 


Introductory 


guaranteed  to  the  natives  of  the  soil,  and  it  is  only  fair 
that  by  degrees  the  resources  of  these  countries  should 
provide  the  means  for  the  upkeep  of  a civilised  government 
which  more  and  more  is  tending  to  become  the  native 
government  of  those  countries.  Where  the  land  is 
absolutely  waste  land,  without  indigenous  human  inhabi- 
tants, I have  counted  it  no  sin  that  such  a wilderness 
should  be  allotted  to  foreign  settlers  of  our  own  or  of  any 
other  race  seeking  a home  beyond  the  seas.  But  I do 
count  it  a sin  to  oust  one  race  to  put  another  in  its  place, 
unless  and  until  any  such  race  has  shown  itself  the  foe  of 
humanity  in  general. 

But  the  Crown  Lands,  the  public  forests,  the  natural 
resources  of  the  Congo  Free  State  instead  of  being  ad- 
ministered as  a national  fund  for  the  maintenance  and 
improvement  of  that  State,  and  the  promotion  of  the  welfare 
of  its  inhabitants,  are  actually  diverted  to  the  private  profit 
of  King  Leopold  and  some  of  his  associates.  It  is  this  that 
is  the  inherently  false  principle  in  the  scheme  of  the  Congo  Free 
State,  The  public  revenues  collected  from  these  regions  are 
not  publicly  accounted  for. 

The  danger  in  this  state  of  affairs  lies  in  the  ferment 
of  hatred  whifch  is  being  created  against  the  white  race  in 
general  by  the  agents  of  the  King  of  the  Belgians  in  the 
minds  of  the  Congo  Negroes.  The  Negro  has  a re- 
markably keen  sense  of  justice.  He  recognises  in  British 
Central  Africa,  in  East  Africa,  in  Nigeria,  in  South  Africa, 
in  Togoland,  Dahome,  the  Gold  Coast,  Sierra  Leone,  and 
Senegambia,  that,  on  the  whole,  though  the  White  Men 
ruling  in  those  regions  have  made  some  mistakes  and 
committed  some  crimes,  have  been  guilty  of  some  injustice, 
yet  that  the  state  of  affairs  they  have  brought  into  existence 
as  regards  the  Black  Man  is  one  infinitely  superior  to  that 
which  proceeded  the  arrival  of  the  White  Man  as  a 
temporary  ruler.  Therefore,  though  there  may  be  a rising  | 
here  or  a partial  tumult  there  the  mass  of  the  people  j 
increase  and  multiply  with  content,  and  acquiesce  in  our 
tutelary  position.  Were  it  otherwise,  any  attempt  at 
combination  on  their  part  would  soon  overwhelm  us  and 
extinguish  our  rule.  Why,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  the 

xvi 


Introductory 


very  soldiers  with  whom  we  keep  them  in  subjection  are  of 
their  own  race.  But  unless  some  stop  can  be  put  to  the 
misgovernment  of  the  Congo  regions  I venture  to  warn 
those  who  are  interested  in  African  politics  that  a move- 
ment is  already  begun  and  is  spreading  fast,  which  will 
unite  the  Negroes  against  the  White  race,  a movement 
which  will  prematurely  stamp  out  the  beginnings  of  the 
new  civilisation  we  are  trying  to  implant,  and  against  which 
movement  except  so  far  as  the  actual  coast-line  is  concerned 
the  resources  of  men  and  money  which  Europe  can  put  into 
the  field  will  be  powerless. 

H.  H.  JOHNSTON. 


l 


* 


xvii 


. • 


Bergen 


lORWA 


LaJ(e 

^Leopold 


Liseoi 


SARDINIA^ 


MAP  OF  EUROPE  SHOWING,  IN  RED.  THE  PROPORTION^ -:-i 


N/|i  AREA  COVERED  BY  THE  CONGO  RIVER  AND  ITS  AFFLUENTS. 


^Moscow 


L.Hi 


vu 


ST  PETERSBURG 


ICILY 

I. 


PREFACE  TO  SECOND  EDITION 


In  concluding  the  Preface  to  the  first  edition  of  this  volume 
I asked,  “ Will  the  British  Public,  which  in  the  ultimate 
resort  has  compelled  exposure  of  a crime  unparalleled  in 
the  annals  of  the  world,  compel  the  cessation  of  that 
crime  ? ” 

Nothing  which  has  taken  place  since  is  of  a nature  to 
induce  me  to  alter  that  question,  which  dominates  the 
situation.  The  Belgian  Parliamentary  debate  is  not  over 
as  I write  these  lines,  and  it  may  possibly  reserve  some 
surprises  for  us.  But  I doubt  it.  The  Cabinet — that  is 
the  King — will  triumph  probably,  even  though  the  majority 
may  be  very  small.  And  what  is  the  policy  of  the  King  ? 
It  was  laid  down  by  M.  dc  Smet  de  Naeyer  on  the  opening 
day  of  the  discussion.  The  Belgian  Government  may 
begin  the  discussion  during  the  present  session,  of  the 
Annexation  Bill  which  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer  deposited  in 
the  Government  pigeon  holes  in  1901  ! The  Government 
will  take  into  consideration  the  question  of  discussing  details 
as  to  transfer  with  the  Congo  State  ; but  it  will  only  do  so 
when  it  thinks  the  time  has  come  for  that  preliminary 
negotiation  ! Precisely.  We  are  where  we  were  before 
— if  the  Debate  closes  on  those  lines  ; with  this  excep- 
tion, that  British  diplomacy  will  have  received  yet  another 


Preface  to  Second  Edition 


rebuff  at  the  hands  of  the  Sovereign  of  the  Congo  State,  who 
has  declared  (vide  p.  17 1)  that  in  regard  to  annexation  he 
has  “ nothing  to  say  at  present.” 

The  Debate  threatens  to  close  with  an  unending  vista  of 
procrastination,  and,  meanwhile,  as  the  Times — which  has 
been  doing  a real  service  to  the  cause  of  the  helpless  Congo 
natives  by  the  very  full  reports  of  its  Continental  corres- 
pondents, and  by  its  able  leaders — says,  the  “ part  of  regular 
mystification  played  upon  the  Belgian  people  and  upon 
Europe  ” continues. 

After  a careful  perusal  of  the  many  reviews  which  have 
appeared  on  this  book,  I see  no  reason  to  modify  one  line  of 
what  it  contains — notably  in  regard  to  the  last  chapter  in 
which  I sketch  out  the  action  which  Great  Britain  is  able 
to  adopt. 

One  or  two  papers  appear  in  doubt  as  to  the  practical 
value  of  establishing  Consular  Courts.  The  alarm  expressed 
at  the  suggestion  by  the  henchmen  in  Parliament  and 
in  the  Press  of  the  Sovereign  of  the  Congo  State, 
should  induce  them  to  alter  their  views.  Above  all  things 
this  is  what  the  Sovereign  of  the  Congo  State  dreads  and 
fears.  “ Caveant  consoles  ” ! It  is  the  one  decisive  step — 
synonymous  with  a firm  declaration  of  policy  of  the  kind 
below  mentioned — which  will  break  the  back  of  the  atrocious 
system  he  has  introduced  on  the  Congo.  And  he  knows 
it  well. 

Far  from  being  a mere  “ irritant  ” as  it  has  been  some- 
where said,  consular  jurisdiction  would  be  the  first  plank  in 
the  constructive  policy  of  the  future  which  is  absolutely 
required  by  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  As  I have  said 
in  this  volume,  other  signatory  Powers  to  the  Act  of  the 
West  African  Conference  of  Berlin  possess  the  same  right, 
and  were  we  to  accompany  our  exercises  of  it  with  the 
clear  intimation  that  we  should  rejoice  if  other  Powers  did 


XX 


Preface  to  Second  Edition 


likewise,  what  could  other  Powers  say  by  way  of  protest  ? 
The  Treaty,  moreover,  which  confers  upon  us  this  right  is 
a Treaty  of  our  own  with  King  Leopold  : no  other  Power 
is  concerned  in  it. 

For  the  rest  I can  only  repeat  here  what  I have  stated  in 
this  book.  Until  some  Power  (or  Powers)  insists  upon  the 
integral  application  in  the  Congo  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of- the  Berlin  Conference,  principles  which  obtain 
everywhere  in  the  African  tropics  except,  by  a strange  irony, 
in  that  vast  portion  of  them  to  which  the  Act  applies,  the 
horrors  of  the  Congo  will  continue  on  an  ever-increasing 
scale,  whether  under  the  Congo,  or  under  the  Belgian 
flag.  The  Congo  native,  like  the  native  of  every  part  of 
the  African  tropics,  must  be  protected  in  his  rights  in  land, 
property,  and  labour.  All  those  rights  have  been  swept  away 
from  him  by  the  most  colossal  act  of  spoliation  ever  imagined 
by  mortal  man.  The  right  of  trading  freely  in  the  produce  of 
his  soil,  and  in  the  fruits  of  his  labour  must  be  restored  to  him. 
What  is  trade  ? Surely  it  is  the  most  elementary  function 
of  humanity  ? We  are  all  traders  in  one  form  or  another. 
It  is  the  right  to  dispose  of  one’s  labour.  It  is  the  recog- 
nition of  the  possession  of  property.  It  is  the  essential  basis 
of  economics.  It  is  the  common  link  which  unites  all  the 
branches  of  the  human  family.  To  remove  from  a primi- 
tive community  the  right  to  trade  is  to  strangle  for  ever 
the  economic  development  of  that  community,  to  reduce  it 
to  perpetual  sterility,  or  to  enslave  it. 

But  King  Leopold  has  done  this.  He  has  done  so 
juridically,  by  claiming  that  a “State”  (which  he  calls  his 
enterprise)  is  empowered  to  appropriate  the  entire  merchant- 
able products  of  the  land  in  which  the  citizens  of  tfhat 
“ State  ” dwell ; and,  in  practice,  by  appropriating  the 
entire  labour  of  the  country,  for  the  juridical  claim  is  worth- 
less without  its  practical  accompaniment.  In  this  manner 


XXI 


Preface  to  Second  Edition 


he  has  destroyed  the  normal  or  commercial  relationship 
between  the  European  and  the  negro  throughout  the  Congo 
valley  ; he  has  reduced  juridically,  the  millions  of  natives 
inhabiting  it  from  possessors  of  merchantable  products,  and 
from  ownership  over  their  own  labour,  to  tenants  upon  his 
property  ; he  has  reduced  them,  in  practice,  wherever  he 
has  been  able  to  enforce  his  claim,  to  things — mere  things  ; 
chattels  of  his  own ; articles  of  potential  value  for  himself, 
his  partners,  and  his  heirs.  And  in  so  doing  he  has  enslaved 
the  whole  population,  for  what  motive  power  remains  with 
which  to  acquire  the  products  of  the  Congo  except  com- 
pulsion, since  the  commercial  relationship  has  been  elimi- 
nated with  the  claim  to  prior  possession  over  those  products  ? 
And  how  can  compulsion  be  exercised  in  the  African 
tropics,  save  by  arming  one  black  man  and  stationing  him 
with  a loaded  rifle  in  his  hand  over  his  unarmed  brother  ? 
Of  this  conception  one  of  the  most  experienced  of  West 
African  legislators  and  administrators  has  said,  and  said 
truly,  that  it  “ requires  a soldier  behind  every  producer.” 

I repeat  again  and  yet  again  that  until  the  Congo  native 
is  reinstalled  in  the  right  enjoyed  by  all  black  men  under 
European  over-lordship  in  Tropical  Africa  outside  the  Congo 
Basin,  to  buy  and  sell  with  the  European,  which  necessitates 
the  restoration  of  his  rights  of  land  tenure,  and  the  disposal 
of  his  labour,  there  will  be  no  change  in  his  lot. 

Surely,  if  this  great  truth  is  burned  into  the  brains  and 
hearts  of  our  countrymen,  we  can  afford  to  disregard  the 
taunt  of  working  for  material  ends,  and  the  taunt  of 
interested  motives  launched  at  us  by  the  subsidised  organs 
of  the  Leopoldian  Press  Bureau  ? 

“ British  interests  ” in  this  connection  mean  nothing 
more  than  the  right  provided  under  the  Berlin  Conference 
for  the  subjects  of  Britain,  as  for  the  subjects  of  the  fourteen 
contracting  Powers — neither  more  nor  less — of  commercial 

xxii 


Preface  to  Second  Edition 


intercourse  with  the  natives  of  the  Congo.  If  that  com- 
mercial intercourse  is  re-established  between  the  natives  and 
Europeans  of  every  nationality,  Americans  and  Asiatics — 
and,  if  you  like,  South  Sea  Islanders — the  inhabitant  of  the 
Congo  ceases  to  be  a slave  in  his  own  home,  and  becomes 
once  more  a man  with  a man’s  rights  ; because,  with  its 
re-establishment,  the  inhabitant  of  the  Congo  enters  once 
more  into  his  own,  is  once  more  owner  of  his  land,  of  its 
produce  (which  he  alone  can  gather),  and  of  his  labour. 

What  the  British  Government  will  do  I do  not  know. 
As  to  what  ought  to  be  done,  I have  no  doubt  whatever. 
The  Government  should  proclaim  before  all  the  world 
its  unshakable  determination  to  repudiate  absolutely  and 
entirely  these  claims  to  the  land,  the  produce  of  the  soil,  and 
the  labour  of  the  Congo  native  set  up  by  King  Leopold. 
It  should  decline  before  the  world  to  even  discuss  any 
pretensions  founded  upon  such  impossible  and  utterly 
immoral  claims.  It  should  declare  them  to  be  a negation 
of  the  most  vulgar  conceptions  of  civilised  and  uncivilised 
usage  ; opposed  to  all  the  legitimate  interests  of  commercial 
nations  ; and  a violation  of  the  Berlin  Act.  It  should 
declare  its  unalterable  determination  not  to  recognise  these 
claims,  in  practice,  when  the  legitimate  interests  of  British 
subjects  white  or  black  in  the  Congo,  or  in  the  territories 
adjacent  to  it,  are  affected  by  them.  And,  coupled  with 
these  declarations,  it  should  provide,  in  the  shape  of  an 
increased  Consular  staff,  furnished  with  powers  of  juris- 
diction and  with  independent  means  of  conveyance,  the 
machinery  whereby  its  declarations  can,  in  practice,  be 
rendered  effective. 

In  so  doing,  it  would  have  a united  nation  at  its  back. 

And  what  is  the  Power  which  could  or  would  oppose  us 
in  this  matter  ? There  is  not  one  which  could  do  so 
without  repudiating  the  signatures  of  its  own  repre- 

xxiii 


Preface  to  Second  Edition 


sentatives  to  the  Act  of  Berlin ! There  is  not  one  which 
could  advance  the  shadow  of  a moral  right,  or  a material 
interest,  against  such  a policy.  The  legitimate  material 
interests  of  all  the  commercial  and  industrial  communities 
in  the  world  would  be  served  by  such  action  on  our  part — 
including  that  of  Belgium.  The  fear  of  foreign  compli- 
cations is  a bogey,  which  would  only  become  a substance 
if  England  developed  territorial  ambitions,  and  it  may  be 
safely  said  that  not  one  solitary  human  being  in  this  country 
entertains  such  an  idea. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Sir  Harry  Johnston’s  introductory 
note  to  this  volume,  that  eminent  authority  has  given  a 
clear  and  definite  warning  to  the  governing  statesmen  of 
the  world  as  to  the  consequences  which  will  ensue  if  the 
present  system  remains  in  force  on  the  Congo.  It  may  be 
specially  recommended  to  those  among  us  who  are  inclined 
to  falter  and  hang  back  at  the  slightest  signs  of  international 
friction  accompanying  positive  action  on  the  part  of 
England  ; those  of  us  who  are  essentially  men  of  peace — 
and  all  honour  to  such.  I venture  to  remind  those  men 
that  the  continuance  of  the  present  system  is  synonymous 
with  the  carrying  of  desolating  war  throughout  the  Congo 
Basin. 

In  conclusion,  I would  also  venture  to  utter  a note  of 
warning.  At  the  present  moment  this  huge  evil  is  com- 
paratively easy  to  deal  with.  The  longer  action  is  delayed 
the  greater  the  perils  of  eventual  interference.  And  inter- 
ference must  come.  It  is  utterly  impossible  that  matters 
can  remain  as  they  are.  By  bold,  courageous,  straight- 
forward action  now  the  evil  can  be  cauterised.  If  action  is 
long  delayed  what  is  to-day  an  African  question  may  to- 
morrow become  a European  question  as  well. 

Let  our  governing  statesmen  be  well  assured  of  this. 
There  is  in  the  atmosphere  of  England  at  this  moment  a 


XXIV 


Preface  to  Second  Edition 


singular  determination  to  liberate,  with  God’s  help,  the 
natives  of  the  Congo  from  their  unspeakable  bondage,  and 
to  save  Europe  the  shame  of  tolerating,  by  consent,  the 
revival,  under  worse  forms,  of  the  African  Slave  Trade.  It 
is  a force  to  reckon  with.  It  is  a force  which  finds  ex- 
pression in  these  words  of  the  Bishop  of  Southwark,  words 
noble  and  true  : — 

“ On  the  attitude  and  action  of  this  country  in  reference  to  the 
Congo  will  depend  in  a great  degree  England’s  own  moral 
future.” 

The  statesman  who  comprehended  this  feeling  of  determi- 
nation, based  not  upon  unreasoning  sentimentalism,  but  upon 
a sober  realisation  of  responsibilities  historically  incurred, 
upon  the  clearest  common  sense  and  the  soundest  political 
wisdom,  would  create  for  himself  in  the  annals  of  this 
country,  an  immortality — to  paraphrase  Sir  Harry  Johnston 
— of  good  renown. 

Next  March  marks  the  centenary  of  the  passage  through 
both  Houses  of  Parliament  of  the  Total  Abolition  of 
Slavery  Bill.  The  statesman  who  introduced  that  Bill 
into  the  House  of  Commons  was  Lord  Howick,  first  Earl 
Grey,  and  Sir  Edward  Grey  is  that  nobleman’s  collateral 
descendant. 

E.  D.  MOREL. 

Hawarden,  December  i,  1906. 

PS. — Dec.  8.  As  the  Belgian  Debate  proceeds,  we  ob- 
serve a perpetual  insistence  upon  the  King’s  “ sovereign 
rights”  over  the  Congo.  The  nature  of  those  “sovereign 
rights  ” is  strictly  defined  and  limited  by  International 
Treaties.  The  interpretations  he  has  since  placed  upon 
them  are  the  very  negation  of  those  definitions  and  limita- 
tions. (See  p.  167.) 


XXV 


1 

i 


I 

I 

I 


4 


I 


AUTHOR’S  PREFACE 


This  book  is  written  with  the  object  of  putting  into  the 
hands  of  the  British  public,  at  a cost  which  places  it 
within  the  reach  of  many,  a brief  and  up-to-date  narrative 
of  the  Congo  tragedy,  avoiding  side  issues,  and  dealing 
with  the  main  features  of  the  story. 

Much  of  it  will  be  new  to  all  save  those  who  have 
followed  the  Congo  question  as  students,  and  even  as 
regards  the  latter  it  is  hoped  that  the  cumulative  force  of 
recent  revelations  here  presented  in  their  natural  sequence 
may  lead  to  an  even  clearer  perception  of  the  problem. 

A crisis  in  this  history  has  arrived. 

The  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry,  wrung  from 
King  Leopold  by  the  pressure  of  British  public  opinion. 
Professor  Cattier’s  volume,  and  the  five  days’  debate  on 
these  two  publications  which  took  place  last  February  in 
the  Belgian  House  of  Representatives,’'  have  removed  the 
last  doubts  which  remained  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the 
charges  publicly  brought  against  the  personal,  uncontrolled, 
and  unfettered  management  of  the  Congo  territories  by 
King  Leopold. 

Contention  as  to  facts  has  disappeared.  The  contro- 
versial stage  has,  in  that  respect,  gone  for  ever. 

The  truth,  in  all  its  international  dangers,  its  greed,  its 

’ Translated  by  E.  D.  Morel.  Published  by  the  Congo  Reform 
Association,  price  is. 

xxvii 


Author’s  Preface 


disordered  ambitions,  above  everything  in  its  horror,  stands 
out  naked. 

Will  the  British  Public,  which  in  the  ultimate  resort  has 
compelled  exposure  of  a crime  unparalleled  in  the  annal 
of  the  world,  compel  the  cessation  of  that  crime  ? 

It  has  the  driving  force  to  do  so  if  it  will. 

E.  D.  MOREL. 

Hawarden,  October,  1906. 


xxviii 


CONTENTS 


Introduction  by  Sir  Harry  H.  Johnston 
Preface  to  Second  Edition 
Author’s  Preface  .... 
Section  I.  The  History  . 

I.  FROM  BEHIND  THE  VEIL. 

II.  WHAT  BRITAIN  DID  . 

III.  THE  “international  AFRICAN  ASSOCIATION' 

IV.  A PROGRAMME  IN  THREE  PARTS 

Section  II.  The  Deeds 

Section  III.  Is  there  a Redeeming  Feature  ? 

I.  THE  ARAB  AND  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC 

II.  PUBLIC  WORKS  AND  THE  PRICE  THEREOF 

III.  JUSTICE  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  CRITIC 

Section  IV.  The  Beneficiaries 
Section  V.  The  Duty 

I.  THOU  ! . . 

II.  “ reforms  ” . : 

III.  THE  position  OF  BELGIUM  . 

IV.  WHAT  BRITAIN  CAN  DO  . 


PAGE 

vii 

xix 

xxvii 

I 

3 

1 1 
i6 

24 

41 

81 

83 

91 

104 
1 29 

155 

IS7 

161 

164 

177 


XXIX 


« 3 


/ 


MAPS 


Map  of  Europe  showing,  in  Red,  the  Proportionate 
Area  covered  by  the  Congo  River  and  its 
Affluents  . . . Facing  Titie-page 


Map  showing  Revenue  Divisions  of  the  “Congo  Free 

State  ”,  . . , , Facing  page  i 


XXXI 


V-’.. 


ISEKANSU 

Mutilated  by  Sentries  for  Shortage  in  Rubber 


fa/\NATORY. 


King  and  not  accounted  for  in  any  way  whatsoeuer, 
tnen  whom  he  controis.  This  is  the  so~caiied  “ Concessionnaire  " area, 
tl  betn  received. 


SECTION  I 

THE  HISTORY 


2 


I 


I 

FROM  BEHIND  THE  VEIL 

Arcana  imperii 

“ How  came  England  to  be  mixed  up  in  this  Congo 
business  ? ” 

“ How  did  King  Leopold  come  to  hold  the  position  he 
now  does  ? ” 

“ How  is  it  that  all  this  oppression  and  atrocity  has  only 
begun  to  be  realised  within  a comparatively  recent  period 
by  the  general  public  ? ” 

Those  are  three  questions  which  are  constantly  being 
asked  us.  Detailed  answers  to  the  first  two  are  to  be  found 
in  one  or  two  publications.  They  will  be  re-stated  here. 
The  answer  to  the  third  question  is  a more  difficult  and 
a somewhat  delicate  one  to  handle,  but  as  a great  deal  of 
misconception  exists  on  the  subject,  misconception  which 
has  done  harm  to  the  cause  of  the  Congo  natives  here  at 
home,  and  especially  abroad,  it  seems  advisable  to  deal  with 
it  frankly  and  at  once,  not  from  the  standpoint  of  the  critic, 
but  from  that  of  the  recorder  of  facts. 

People  who  suppose  that  the  atrocities  of  King  Leopold’s 
African  enterprise  are  a relatively  new  phase  in  the  history 
of  that  enterprise  are  mistaken  ; but  the  mistake  is  natural. 
Those  atrocities  have  been  recorded  in  one  unbroken  stream 
since  1892,  and  even  earlier,  but  they  have  not,  in  the  main, 
been  publicly  accessible  until  recently.  Slowly  have  they 
emerged  into  the  light,  some  are  still  coming  out,  others 
continue  to  be  hidden.  Nothing  even  approximating  to 

3 


Red  Rubber 


the  whole  truth  will  ever  be  known.  The  reasons  for  this 
are  various. 

Parliamentary  apathy^  comprehensible  from  the  absence  of 
informatiou. — Sir  Charles  Dilke,  who,  as  every  one  knows, 
takes  a deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  African 
races,  brought  the  general  treatment  of  those  races,  and 
especially  the  Congo  races,  before  Parliament  in  April,  1897.* 
He  suggested  an  International  Conference,  and  was  sup- 
ported by  Mr.  Sydney  Buxton,  Sir  George  Baden-Powell, 
and  Mr.  John  Dillon.  From  then  to  the  great  debate 
in  May,  1903 — a space  of  six  years — I cannot  find  that 
the  Congo  was  mentioned  in  Parliament,  otherwise  than  by 
some  chance  and  rare  question  and  answer. 

The  attitude  of  the  British  Government, — In  that  in- 
terval the  British  Government  received  a number  of 
reports  from  British  officials  and  officers  in,  or  adjacent  to, 
the  Congo,  both  as  regards  the  general  treatment  of  the 
natives  of  the  country,  and  as  regards  the  treatment  of 
British  coloured  subjects  employed  in  different  capacities 
on  the  Congo.  So  numerous  were  the  latter  reports  that 
a year  previous  to  Sir  Charles  Dilke’s  early  initiative, 
Mr.  Chamberlain,  replying  to  Mr.  J.  A.  Pease,  stated  in 
the  House  that  he  had  prohibited  the  recruiting  of  labourers 
by  King  Leopold’s  agents  in  the  British  West  African 
Colonies.  The  nature  of  the  reports  may  be  gauged  from 
Mr.  Chamberlain’s  own  words : “ Complaints  have  been 
received  of  these  British  subjects  having  been  employed 
without  their  consent  as  soldiers,  and  of  their  having  been 
cruelly  flogged  and  in  some  cases  shot.”  I have  been  told, 
and  I believe  the  statement  is  true,  that  Mr.  Chamberlain, 
as  a consequence  of  the  frequency  and  nature  of  these 
reports,  did  his  utmost  to  induce  the  Cabinet,  but  without 
success,  to  assume  the  rights  of  extra-territoriality  on  the 
Congo  secured  to  Great  Britain  under  the  Convention  with 
King  Leopold  of  1884.  In  its  Note  to  the  Powers  of 
August  8,  1903 — arising  out  of  the  resolution  passed  by 
Parliament  in  the  May  debate — the  Government  referred 


' He  played  a prominent  part  in  the  later  debates  of  1903, 
1904,  1905,  and  1906,  and  has  a complete  mastery  of  the  subject. 

4 


From  Behind  the  Veil 


to  both  classes  of  reports.  The  Note  says  : “ Moreover 
information  which  has  reached  His  Majesty’s  Government 
from  British  officers  in  territory  adjacent  to  that  of  the 
State  tends  to  show  that,  notwithstanding  the  obligations 
accepted  under  Article  II.  of  the  Berlin  Act,  no  attempt 
at  any  administration  of  the  natives  is  made,  and  that 
officers  of  the  Government  do  not  apparently  concern 
themselves  with  such  work,  but  devote  all  their  energy 
to  the  collection  of  revenue.  The  natives  are  left  entirely 
to  themselves,  so  far  as  any  assistance  in  their  government  ^ 
or  in  their  affairs  are  concerned.  The  Congo  stations  are 
shunned,  the  only  natives  seen  being  soldiers,  prisoners,  and 
men  who  are  brought  in  to  work.  The  neighbourhood 
of  stations  which  are  known  to  have  been  populous  a few 
years  ago  is  now  uninhabited,  and  emigration  on  a large 
scale  takes  place  to  the  territory  of  neighbouring  states,  the 
natives  usually  averring  that  they  are  driven  away  from 
their  homes  by  the  tyranny  and  exaction  of  the  soldiers.” 
In  connection  with  British  coloured  subjects  the  Note, 
after  referring  to  the  “ disadvantage  ” under  which  “ His 
Majesty’s  Government  have  further  laboured,”  owing  to 
the  fact  that  “ British  interests  have  not  justified  the  main- 
tenance of  a large  Consular  Staff  in  the  Congo  territories,” 
goes  on  to  state  that  a Consul  “ of  wide  African  experience  ” 
(Mr.  Casement)  was  appointed  to  “ reside  permanently  in 
the  State,”  but  that  “ his  time  had  been  principally  occupied 
in  the  investigation  of  complaints  preferred  by  British  sub- 
jects,” and  that  he  had  not  been  able,  therefore,  to  travel 
in  the  interior  for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  general  con- 
dition of  the  natives  of  the  country.  Mr.  Casement’s 
advices,  the  Note  proceeds,  disclosed,  in  connection  with 
these  complaints,  “ examples  of  grave  maladministration  and 
ill-treatment,”  occurring  “ in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Boma,  the  seat  of  the  Central  Staff".” 

The  whole  of  these  official  reports  were  suppressed  lock, 
stock,  and  barrel,  and  they  have  never  been  made  public, 
although  Mr.  Alfred  Emmott  pressed  for  their  production 


’ That  is  to  say,  assistance  in  their  own  internal  administration. 
— Vide  Section  iv.,  pt.  iii. 


5 


Red  Rubber 


in  the  Parliamentary  debate  of  1904.^  The  British  Govern- 
ment contented  itself  with  making  private  representations 
to  King  Leopold  through  H.M.  Minister  in  Brussels,  the 
farcical  “ Commission  for  the  protection  of  the  natives,” 
and  sundry  bogus  “judicial  reforms”  coupled  with  an 
intensified  period  of  oppression,  being  the  sole  results. 

The  Silence  of  the  Missionary  Societies. — As  will  be  shown 
in  Section  II  of  this  volume,  there  had  been  accumulating 
in  the  decade  1892-1902  in  some  of  the  Protestant  mission 
stations  of  the  Upper  Congo,  records  of  a comprehensive 
and  appalling  character.  Enough  information  was  available 
to  have  stormed  every  religious  platform  in  this  country. 
The  Home  Executives  of  the  Missionary  Societies  took  no 
public  action,  however,  and  for  many  years  one  Congo 
missionary,  and  one  only,  dared  to  confront,  with  the 
righteous  indignation  of  a spirit  stung  to  passionate  anger 
by  the  fearful  evidence  of  his  own  eyes.  King  Leopold’s 
agents  in  Africa,  and  King  Leopold  himself  in  Europe.  He 
was  a Swede.  His  name  was  Sjoblom,  and  he  stands  out 
an  apostolic  figure  of  those  earlier  days.  His  pendant  of 
later  times  in  energy  and  determination  is  John  Harris  (and 
Mrs.  Harris),  of  whose  courage  in  Africa  and  self-sacrifice 
in  Europe  it  would  be  impossible  to  speak  too  highly.  Two 
other  missionaries  followed  in  his  footsteps,  a Virginian  and 
an  Irish-American.  With  those  three  exceptions  no 
missionary  appears  to  have  given  expression  to  his  experi- 
ences in  a form  available  to  the  general  public,  until 
October,  1903,  when  Mr.  J.  H.  Weeks,  with  whom  I had 
come  in  touch  through  a mutual  friend,  sent  me  the  first 
of  his  powerful  co’mmunications.  A number  complained 
locally  to  the  officials,  and  did,  and  have  always  done,  all 
they  could  do  for  the  natives.  The  Home  Executives, 
or  some  of  them,  made  private  representations  to  King 
Leopold.  So  far  as  the  Roman  Catholic  missions  are  con- 
cerned, neither  the  Home  Executives  nor  the  missionaries 
on  the  field  made  any  public  statement  until  this  year,  after 


’ I should  say  here  that  Mr.  Alfred  Emmott  and  Mr.  Herbert 
Samuel  have  rendered  the  greatest  services  to  the  cause  of  the 
Congo  natives.  Humanity  owes  them  a debt  of  gratitude. 

6 


From  Behind  the  Veil 


the  publication  of  the  Report  of  the  Commission  of 
Inquiry.  We  know  now  that  some  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries,  like  some  of  their  Protestant  brethren,  com- 
plained locally  to  the  officials.  The  Home  Executives  may 
have  made  representations  to  the  king.^  From  the  end  of 
1903  when  the  testimony  of  British  and  American  mission- 
aries became  continuous,  detailed,  and  insistent,  the  organs 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Missions — and  the  Roman  Catholic 
religious  press,  generally — attacked  the  former  with  great 
bitterness.  This  attitude  was  dictated  by  the  Vatican 
direct,  doubtless  under  the  influence  of  King  Leopold’s 
assurances  that  the  British  movement  disguised  an  attack 
upon  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  a legend  which  the 
king’s  agents  were  particularly  active  in  propagating 
throughout  the  Roman  Catholic  world  in  the  United 
States.2  This  attitude  was  maintained  until  the  appear- 
ance or  the  Report  of  the  Commission,  when  it  underwent 
a complete  change,  at  least  as  regards  the  Belgian  religious 
orders  and  organs.  I have  said  that  this  is  not  a criticism 
but  a statement  of  fact,  and  I pass  no  opinion  on  the  silence 
thus  observed  either  in  defence  or  stricture,  contenting  my- 

’ That  great  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Roman 
Catholic  Missionaries  to  keep  silence  is  not,  I think,  doubtful. 
Speaking  in  the  Belgian  House  in  March  last,  M.  Coifs,  a Catholic 
Member  of  Parliament,  said  : “ Our  missionaries  are  expected  to 
keep  silence.  As  the  Bien  Public  has  so  well  put  it  optimistic 
statements  are  alone  tolerated  from  them.  There  is,  therefore,  a 
gag.  The  gag  is  only  placed  in  the  mouths  of  Belgian  mission- 
aries, and  it  was  to  ensure  this  result  that  the  Congo  State  urged 
the  Vatican  to  agree  that  Catholic  evangelisation  on  the  Congo 
should  be  confined  exclusively  to  Belgium.”  This  utterance  is  the 
more  notable  since  M.  Coifs  was  the  spokesman  in  the  debate  of 
the  religious  missions. 

® When  in  the  fall  of  1904  I visited  the  United  States  with  the 
dual  mission  of  addressing  the  International  Peace  Conference 
at  Boston  on  the  Congo  question,  and  presenting  a Memorial  to 
President  Roosevelt  signed  by  a number  of  public  bodies  and 
influential  public  men  (which  mission  I carried  out)  I found  my- 
self— greatly  to  my  astonishment — opposed  by  Cardinal  Gibbons, 
head  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  that  country.  The  open 
correspondence  which  passed  between  his  Eminence  and  myself 
is  published  in  the  official  organ  of  the  Congo  Reform  Association 
for  November,  1904. 


7 


Red  Rubber 


self  with  the  remark  that — as  in  the  case  of  the  British 
Government  ^ — it  delayed  by  many  years  the  manifestation 
of  the  truth. 

King  Leopold's  Active  Opponents. — Until  the  Parliamentary 
debate  of  May,  1903,  found  all  political  parties  so  impressed 
with  unofficial  testimony  and  exposition,  as  to  be  united  in 
demanding  from  the  British  Government  a definite  invita- 
tion to  the  powers  for  the  convocation  of  an  International 
Conference,  the  active  opponents  of  the  existing  rlgime  on 
the  Congo  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  the  Aborigines 
Protection  Society  and  myself.  Who  says  Aborigines 
Protection  Society  says  Mr.  H.  R.  Fox  Bourne.  So  that 
there  were  only  two  men  really  to  reckon  with.  When 
Mr.  Fox  Bourne,  under  the  auspices  of  his  Society,  organised 
a public  meeting — as  at  the  Mansion  House  in  1902,  and  to 
hear  the  American  missionary,  Morrison,  in  1903 — he  could 
always  count  upon  Sir  Charles  Dilke  (whose  pen  was  not 
inactive  in  the  cause)  and  other  distinguished  members  of 
the  Society.  But  the  persistent  hammering  at  the  public, 
without  which  no  movement  can  hope  to  make  headway, 
and  indispensable  individual  proselytising — this  was  left 
almost  entirely  to  Mr.  Fox  Bourne  and  myself ; Mr.  Fox 
Bourne  a long  way  ahead  in  point  of  time,  for  I only  came 
on  the  scene  in  1899  or  1900,  while  he,  tired  of  making 
representations  to  King  Leopold,  had  approached  the  British 
Government  in  the  name  of  his  Society  as  far  back  as  1896. 
Mutually  convinced  of  one  another’s  integrity  of  purpose, 
but  working  on  wholly  independent  and  slightly  different 
lines, 2 we  were  terribly  handicapped.  The  name  of 

' The  Italian  Government  also  possesses  an  enormous  number 
of  reports  from  its  officers  in  the  Congo  army,  but  they  are  of 
more  recent  date.  The  German,  French,  Danish,  and  Swedish 
Governments  also  possess  reports. 

“Mr.  Fox  Bourne  emphasising  more  particularly  perhaps  the 
atrocious  nature  of  the  deeds  committed,  while  my  endeavour 
from  the  first  was  to  show  that  given  certain  premises — the 
repudiation  of  native  rights  in  land  and  in  the  produce  of  the 
soil,  and  the  destruction  of  trade  as  the  basic  factor  in  relation- 
ship between  the  European  and  the  native  in  tropical  Africa,  of 
which  this  repudiation  was  the  logical  accompaniment — those 
deeds  must  of  necessity  take  place. 

8 


From  Behind  the  Veil 


Fox  Bourne  is  synonymous  with  unselfish  devotion  on 
behalf  of  subject  races  which  cannot  protect  themselves, 
but  I shall  not,  I feel  sure,  be  causing  offence  if  I submit 
that  the  Aborigines  Protection  Society  is  not  a public  body 
in  the  enjoyment  of  very  wide  popular  support.  It  is 
respected  by  a number,  and  disliked  probably  by  a much 
larger  number.  As  for  myself,  I was  known  only  in  a 
restricted  circle,  through  occasional  signed  articles  on  African 
questions  which  I used  at  that  time  to  contribute  to  the 
Pall  Mall  Gazette  chiefly.  The  odds  were,  therefore, 
severe.  We  had  against  us  a King  who  was  a multi- 
millionaire, with  a then  misguided  nation  at  his  back  and  all 
that  this  implies,  and  a Government  at  home  which  did  not 
want  to  be  bothered,  whose  policy  had  been  a policy  of 
silence.  It  was  perfectly  natural  for  the  public  to  approach 
the  terrible  charges  launched  at  the  Congo  State  with  a 
scepticism,  proof  against  all  but  the  most  overwhelming 
demonstration.  That  scepticism  had  to  be  overcome  and 
that  demonstration  made  step  by  step,  by  slow,  laborious,  and 
painful  degrees,  while  the  forces  at  work  to  stop  it  grew  in 
activity  and  unscrupulousness  with  its  progression.  The 
marvel  is  that  headway  was  made  at  all.  That  success 
attended  these  efforts  is  owing  in  the  main  to  the  British 
Press,  for  whose  support  I have  been  personally  indebted 
beyond  words,  especially  when  the  campaign  of  charges, 
innuendo,  and  vilification  against  myself  was  set  on  foot  by 
King  Leopold’s  Press  Bureau,  and  editorial  offices  were 
flooded  with  the  most  extraordinary  fabrications  concerning 
a humble  and  unknown  individual,  dragged  by  the  force  of 
circumstances  into  a notoriety  which  was  anything  but 
welcome.^^ 

Consul  Casement’s  famous  report  published  early  in  1904, 


' I was  the  head  of,  or  the  agent  of,  " a syndicate  of  rubber 
merchants,”  jealous  because  the  rubber  from  the  Congo  went  to 
Antwerp  instead  of  Liverpool ; the  tool  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment which  masked  territorial  ambition  behind  my  agitation  ; a 
vulgar  adventurer  with  a shady  past  seeking  notoriety  ; the 
possessor  of  large  sums  of  money  wherewith  I bribed  witnesses 
to  manufacture  stories  of  atrocity  ; an  unsuccessful  black-mailer, 
etc.,  etc. 


9 


Red  Rubber 


and  the  mass  of  missionary  evidence  which  was  then  coming 
to  hand  suggested  to  my  mind  the  formation  of  an  associa- 
tion which  should  concentrate  its  energies  upon  one  direct 
and  simple  issue — that  of  thrusting  the  Congo  question  to 
the  front  rank  among  international  problems  in  urgent  need 
of  solution — and  which  could  on  those  lines  not  only 
combine  all  individual  effort,  but  appeal  to  a wide  public  on 
a platform  divorced  from  politics,  creed,  or  even  nationality. 
This  association  came  into  being  ^ with  Earl  Beauchamp  as 
its  first  president,  in  April,  1904. 

This  plain  and  unvarnished  recapitulation  or  events  will, 
I venture  to  hope,  suffice,  with  the  summarised  evidence  in 
Section  II.,  to  clear  up  some  points  which  have  remained 
obscure  to  the  majority. 


' Mr.  Alfred  Emmott,  Mr.  John  Holt,  Dr.  Guinness  (Head  of  the 
Congo  Balolo  Mission),  and  two  other  personal  friends  gave  me 
their  early  and  invaluable  assistance. 


10 


II 

WHAT  BRITAIN  DID 

“As  to  the  question  of  the  natives,  the  whole  anti-slavery  world 
had  been  swindled  by  the  administration  of  the  Congo  Free 
State.” — Right  Hon.  Sir  Charles  W.  Dilke,  Bart.,  M.P.,  Sept.,  1903. 

I NOW  propose  to  deal  as  briefly  as  the  subject  permits  with 
the  two  first  questions  placed  at  the  head  of  the  last 
chapter. 

In  the  sixties  and  seventies  of  the  last  century  Central 
Africa,  which  had  been  a closed  book  to  the  world,  became 
the  scene  of  notable  exploring  feats  which  excited  in  the 
highest  degree  the  scientific,  commercial  and  political 
interest  of  the  Western  Powers.  To  the  scientist  in 
geographical  and  ethnological  research  an  immense  field  for 
activity  loomed  upon  the  horizon.  To  the  commercial 
nations  was  suddenly  revealed  enormous  possibilities  in  the 
creation  of  new  markets,  and  that  revelation  was  accom- 
panied by  a desire,  especially  among  the  Protectionist 
Powers,  to  acquire  as  much  of  the  African  Eldorado  as 
possible  as  an  outlet  for  their  own  manufactures. 

This  desire  led  to  what  has  been  termed  “ the  scramble 
for  Africa.”  England,  France,  and  Portugal  were  owners 
of  African  territory  already  : Germany  and  Italy  became 
attracted  by  the  African  magnet,  and  so  did  King  Leopold 
II.  constitutional  monarch  of  Belgium,  which  since  1831 
had  become  a separate  kingdom,  owing  primarily  to  the 
action  of  Great  Britain,  who  led  the  way  in  recognising  the 
series  of  events  resulting  in  the  secession  of  the  Southern 
Provinces  of  the  Netherlands  from  Holland. 

1 1 


Red  Rubber 


King  Leopold’s  imperialist  tendencies  were  at  that  time 
regarded  without  approval  by  the  Belgian  people. 

Of  all  the  exploring  feats  which  had  caused  the  Western 
world  to  focus  its  gaze  upon  Central  Africa,  Stanley’s 
discovery  of  the  Congo  was  the  most  sensational,  and  in 
that  direction  King  Leopold  bent  his  steps.  He  formed  a 
Company  styled  the  “ International  African  Association  ” 
and  sent  several  investigating  expeditions  at  his  own  expense 
into  the  Congo  region,  mostly  commanded  by  Englishmen 
and  Germans,  talcing  particular  care  to  assure  the  world 
that  his  intentions  were  purely  scientific  and  severely  dis- 
interested. 

France  despatched  de  Brazza  to  the  Congo  region  on  a 
political  mission  of  a definite  character,  and  Portugal  revived 
her  historical  claims  to  the  territory  lying  behind  her 
possession  of  Angola. 

King  Leopold’s  plans  were  not  nearly  so  altruistic  as  he 
professed,  and  fearing  that  they  would  be  checkmated 
either  by  France  or  by  Portugal,  he  appealed  privately 
to  England  for  support.^ 

What  was  the  position  of  the  King’s  “ International 
African  Association”  at  that  period?  It  was  a private 
enterprise  anxious  to  secure  international  sympathies  and 
calling  itself  “international”  to  that  end,  whose  Managing- 
Director  was  nursing  political  and  other  ambitions.  From 
the  standpoint  of  international  law  it  had  no  status  what- 
ever. 

While  conducting  “ a long  private  correspondence  with 
Lord  Granville,”  ^ working  American  opinion  through  Mr. 
Henry  Sanford,  United  States  Minister  at  Brussels,  and 
canvassing  by  various  means  the  different  European  Courts, 
King  Leopold  was,  meanwhile,  posing  before  the  world  as 
the  self-appointed  philanthropist  and  saviour  of  the  African 
race.  He  proposed  to  convert  his  Association  into  a 
“State”  with  “freedom”  as  its  watchword,  thus  providing 
a neutral  field  for  the  legitimate  activity  of  all  commercial 
nations,  whence  rivalry  should  be  de  facto  excluded,  and 


' “ Life  of  Earl  Granville.”  By  Lord  FitzMaurice.  1906. 
* Ibid. 


12 


What  Britain  Did 


where  the  native  would  benefit  by  the  blessings  of  even- 
handed  justice,  and  good  government.  He  repudiated  with 
scorn  the  very  notion  of  pursuing  material  ends,  either  for 
himself,  or  for  Belgium  (which,  in  point  of  fact,  continued 
to  view  these  schemes  on  the  part  of  her  Monarch  with 
distaste  and  apprehension). 

So  admirably  did  the  King  play  his  cards  that  public 
opinion  was  captivated. 

The  King  captured  the  British  Chambers  of  Commerce 
by  declaring  that  if  the  British  commercial  community 
supported  his  proposals,  the  Congo  trade  would  be  free  to 
all  the  world,  and  would  be  exempt  from  such  irritating 
restrictions  as,  for  instance,  characterise  Portuguese  fiscal 
policy.  The  Chambers  “ plumped  ” for  King  Leopold. 

He  captured  the  Protestant  Missionary  Societies  of  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States  by  his  fervid  philanthropic  pro- 
testations, and  his  promise  to  give  every  conceivable  support 
to  their  propaganda.  The  Protestant  Missionary  Societies 
“ plumped  ” for  King  Leopold. 

He  captured  the  Aborigines  Protection  Society,  of  which 
he  became  a member,  and  the  philanthropic  world  of  Great 
Britain — entire. 

What  was  the  attitude  of  the  British  Government  ? 

Sir  Robert  Morier  had  some  years  before  submitted  a 
scheme  to  Lord  Beaconsfield  to  place  the  Congo  River 
under  some  form  of  international  control  on  the  model  of 
the  Danube  Navigation  Commission.* *  According  to  this 
scheme  Great  Britain  was  to  recognise  the  claims  of  Portugal 
northwards  from  Ambriz  to  the  southern  bank  of  the 
Congo,  while  the  northern  bank  was  to  become  British.® 
Lord  Beaconsfield  did  not  favour  it,  and  when  (in  1875) 
Consul  Lieutenant  Cameron  issued  a proclamation  on  his 
own  initiative  taking  possession  of  the  basin  of  the  Congo, 
his  action  was  repudiated  by  Lord  Carnarvon.  Portugal, 
whose  explorers  had  discovered  the  Lower  Congo  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  which  had  spent  large  sums  in  the 
coastal  regions  north  and  south  of  the  river,  was  the  only 


’ “ Life  of  Earl  Granville."  By  Lord  FitzMaurice.  1906. 

* Ibid. 


13 


Red  Rubber 


Power  which,  historically  speaking,  could  lay  claim  ro 
political  rights  in  the  Congo  basin.  She  was  our  old  ally, 
and  she  was  pressing  ardently  for  British  support.  The 
British  Cabinet  entertained  the  greatest  objection  to  the 
placing  of  protectionist  France — with  her  hostile  tariffs 
directed  at  British  trade — in  control  of  the  mighty  Congo 
basin,  and  Lord  Granville  did  not  believe  in  King  Leopold. 
Hence  a friendly  ear  was  turned  to  the  Portuguese  pro- 
posals. Mr.  Gladstone  wrote  to  Lord  Granville  (December, 
1883):  “I  should  be  disposed  to  yield  to  the  Portuguese 
proposal,  still  with  the  intention  of  appropriating  no  exclusive 
advantage''  ^ 

Those  proposals  were  that  Great  Britain  should  recognise 
the  sovereignty  of  Portugal  on  both  banks  of  the  river  up 
to  a certain  limit  inland,  and  to  draw  an  interior  line  which, 
without  expressly  limiting  Portuguese  sovereignty  for  ever 
in  those  regions,  would  put  an  end  to  the  indefinite  ex- 
tension of  her  ancient  claims  ; leaving  the  interior  to  be 
dealt  with  by  conventions  from  time  to  time.  It  was 
proposed  to  declare  the  river  open  to  the  trade  of  the 
world,  and  to  place  it  under  an  Anglo-Portuguese  Navi- 
gation Commission,  to  which  the  accession  of  the  Great 
Powers  would  be  welcome.^ 

The  proposals  were  accepted,  clauses  were  introduced 
protecting  international  trade  against  exaggerated  tariffs, 
protecting  religious  teaching  of  whatever  denomination, 
and  the  rights  of  the  native  chiefs  of  the  Coast  who  had 
concluded  treaties  with  British  Consuls  and  merchants  : and 
the  Treaty  was  signed. 

But  King  Leopold  had  not  been  playing  to  the  gallery 
for  nothing.  The  Treaty  was  denounced  by  the  British 
Chambers  of  Commerce  and  by  the  British  philanthropic 
world.  The  British  Government  was  accused  of  be- 
traying national  interests.  The  Portuguese  Government 
was  accused  by  its  subjects  of  a similar  crime.  France, 
encouraged  by  the  clamour  in  England,  fanned  into  stronger 
flame  by  Stanley’s  impassioned  diatribes,  took  up  an  attitude 


' “ Life  of  Earl  Granville.”  By  Lord  FitzMaurice.  1906. 
=*  Ibid. 


14 


What  britain  Did 


of  resolute  hostility,  and  Bismarck,  who  in  a fit  of  spleen  had 
flung  himself  into  competition  with  England  on  the  Dark 
Continent,  and  who  desired  on  the  other  hand  to  keep 
French  eyes  from  the  Rhenish  frontier,  was  only  too  glad 
to  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone  by  administering  a sly  kick 
at  the  Anglo-Portuguese  instrument. 

France  was  now,  seemingly,  the  mistress  of  the  situation, 
and  Central  Africa  ran  the  risk — so  thought  the  British 
Government — of  becoming  a French  preserve  whence 
foreign  trade  would  be  barred.  This  Great  Britain  wished 
to  prevent.  King  Leopold  quickly  realised  the  danger  from 
his  point  of  view,  and  Stanley,  acting  on  his  behalf,  renewed 
the  advances  previously  made  to  Lord  Granville. 

The  only  course  left  open  to  the  British  Government 
was  to  support  the  King’s  enterprise,  but  mistrusting  the 
scheme  and  foreseeing  its  dangers.  Lord  Granville  determined 
“ to  bind  down  the  new  State  by  conditions  as  stringent  as 
those  in  the  defunct  Anglo-Portuguese  Treaty,  to  secure 
freedom  of  trade  and  the  protection  of  the  natives.”  * 

Bismarck’s  proposal  for  an  International  Conference  on 
West  African  affairs  was  assented  to. 


* “ Life  of  Earl  Granville.”  By  Lord  FitzMaurice.  1906. 


IS 


Ill 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  AFRICAN 
ASSOCIATION 

“ Recognition  was  accorded  not  to  the  Congo  State,  but  to  an 
association  professing  an  international  character,  and  proclaiming 
before  the  world  as  the  object  of  its  being  not  the  accumulation 
of  rubber  at  an  infinite  cost  of  human  life  and  suffering,  but  the 
protection  and  civilisation  of  the  natives  of  Africa.” — Lord 
Percy,  1904. 

On  October  21,  1884,  Stanley,  on  behalf  of  King  Leopold, 
communicated  to  the  British  public  a manifesto  on  behalf  of 
the  “ International  African  Association.” 

It  is  a long  document.  In  it  the  Association  states  that 
its  “sole  object”  is  to  “enable  commerce  to  follow  the 
Association’s  advance  into  inner  equatorial  Africa,”  and 
announces  that  the  sympathy  and  recognition  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  have  been  secured  on 
these  grounds.  Throughout  the  Congo  “ States  ” over 
which  the  Association  will  exercise  supervision  the  Euro- 
pean merchant  may  “ freely  enter  into  commercial 
negotiation  with  the  natives  ” ; “ absolute  freedom  of 
trade  is  ensured,”  The  Association  proposes  to  govern 
these  native  “States”  on  the  Congo  “on  the  principles 
of  law  recognised  by  civilised  nations,”  and  upon  “ philan- 
thropic principles.”  Its  aim  is  to  “ civilise  Africa  by 
encouragement  given  to  legitimate  trade.”  The  Congo 
region  is  therein  said  to  abound  “ in  produce  of  various 
kinds  now  lost  to  the  world,”  but  which,  “ thanks  to 
trade,”  “will  enter  into  circulation.”  The  natives  of  the 
Congo  “States”  will  be  enriched  thereby  because,  thanks 

16 


International  African  Association 


to  European  commercial  activities  which  the  Association’s 
policy,  by  granting  to  them  encouragement  and  protection, 
intends  to  promote,  they  will  receive  European  merchandise 
in  exchange  for  the  produce  of  their  country.  “Thanks 
to  trade  ” . . . “ the  counterpart  of  its  value  ” — that  is,  the 
value  of  tlhe  produce  collected  by  the  natives — “ will  return 
to  Africa,  for  which  it  will  prove  a source  of  prosperity.” 
So  anxious  is  the  Association  that  nothing  shall  be  allowed 
to  restrict  in  any  way  whatsoever  the  development  of 
trading  relations  between  the  white  man  and  the  natives 
on  the  Congo,  that  it  will  not  even  impose  customs  dues 
on  European  merchandise  entering  the  country,  believing 
such  to  be  restrictive,  a doctrine  which  “is  also  that  of 
Richard  Cobden  and  John  Bright.”  ^ The  document 
concludes  with  the  assurance  that  “the  Association  will 
never  part  with  any  of  its  possessions  without  stipulating 
that  the  buyer  shall  maintain  the  absolute  freedom  of  trade 
and  the  complete  individual  liberty  which  it  has  established.” 

On  December  15,  1884,  “Declarations”  were  exchanged 
between  the  British  Government  and  the  Association.  The 
declaration  of  the  Association  opens  as  follows  : — 

“The  International  Association  of  the  Congo,  founded 
by  His  Majesty  the  King  of  the  Belgians  for  the  purpose 
of  promoting  the  civilisation  and  commerce  of  Africa  and 
for  other  humane  and  benevolent  purposes,  hereby  declares 
. . .”  The  declaration  thereupon  sets  forth  that  by  treaties 
with  certain  native  rulers,  “ legitimate  Sovereigns,”  it  has 
established  and  is  establishing  “ free  States  ” in  the  Congo 
region,  whose  administration  by  virtue  of  these  treaties  “ is 
vested  in  the  Association  ” ; that  foreigners  will  be  guaranteed 
in  the  “ free  exercise  of  their  religion,  the  rights  of  naviga  - 
tion,  commerce,  and  industry,  and  the  right  of  buying, 
selling,”  &c.  ; that  everything  possible  will  be  done  “ to 
prevent  the  slave  trade  and  suppress  slavery.” 

The  declaration  of  the  British  Government  is  laconic, 
and  to  the  point : — 

“ The  Government  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty  declare  their 
sympathy  with,  and  approval  of,  the  humane  and  benevolent 


' This  was  specially  for  Manchester  consumption. 

17  3 


Red  Rubber 


purposes  of  the  Association,  and  hereby  recognise  the  flag  of 
the  Association,  and  of  the  free  States  under  its  administration, 
as  the  flag  of  a friendly  Government.” 

On  the  same  date  a Convention  was  signed  between  the 
British  Government  and  the  Association.  It  consists  of 
ten  Articles,  of  which  the  most  important  are  the  second, 
fifth,  and  tenth,  which  read  respectively  as  follows  : — 

Article  II. — “ British  subjects  shall  have  at  all  times  the  right 
of  sojourning  and  of  establishing  themselves  within  the  terri- 
tories which  are  or  shall  be  under  the  government  of  the  said 
Association.  They  shall  enjoy  the  same  protection  which  is 
accorded  to  the  subjects  or  citizens  of  the  most  favoured  nation 
in  all  matters  which  regard  their  persons,  their  property,  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion,  and  the  rights  of  navigation,  com- 
merce, and  industry.  Especially  they  shall  have  the  right  of 
buying,  of  selling,  or  letting  and  of  hiring  lands  and  buildings, 
mines,  and  forests,  situated  within  the  said  territories,  and  of 
founding  houses  of  commerce,  and  of  carrying  on  commerce  and 
a coasting  trade  under  the  British  flag.” 

Article  V. — “ Every  British  Consul  or  Consular  officer  within 
the  said  territories  who  shall  be  thereunto  duly  authorised  by 
Her  Britannic  Majesty’s  Government,  may  hold  a Consular  Court 
for  the  district  assigned  to  him,  and  shall  exercise  sole  and  exclu- 
sive jurisdiction,  both  civil  and  criminal,  over  the  persons  and 
property  of  British  subjects  within  the  same,  in  accordance  with 
British  law.” 

Article  X. — “ In  case  of  the  Association  being  desirous  to  cede 
any  portion  of  the  territory  now  or  hereafter  under  its  govern- 
ment, it  shall  not  cede  it  otherwise  than  as  subject  to  all  the 
engagements  contracted  by  the  Association  under  this  Conven- 
tion. Those  engagements,  and  the  rights  thereby  accorded  to 
British  subjects,  shall  continue  to  be  in  vigour  after  every  cession 
made  to  any  new  occupant  of  any  portion  of  the  said  territory.” 

The  great  “West  African  Conference”  opened  its 
sittings  “in  the  name  of  Almighty  God”  at  Berlin  on 
November  25, 1884.  It  closed  them  on  February  26,  1885. 
Fourteen  Powers  were  represented.  Count  Bismarck  began 
his  opening  speech  with  these  words  ; — 

“ In  convoking  this  Conference,  the  Imperial  Government  has 
been  guided  by  the  conviction  that  all  the  Governments  invited 
share  the  desire  of  civilising  the  natives  of  Africa  by  opening  the 
interior  of  that  Continent  to  trade.” 

He  defined  the  programme  of  the  Conference  as  limited 

18 


International  African  Association 


“ to  the  freedom  of  trade  in  the  Basin  of  the  Congo  and  its 
mouth.” 

Sir  Edward  Malet,  the  British  representative  who  spoke 
immediately  afterwards,  read  a long  address,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  said  : — 

" I cannot  forget  that  the  natives  are  not  represented  among 
us,  and  that  the  decisions  of  the  Conference  will,  nevertheless, 
have  an  extreme  importance  for  them.  The  principle  which 
will  command  the  sympathy  and  support  of  Her  Majest^s 
Government  will  be  that  of  the  advancement  of  legitimate  com- 
merce, with  security  for  the  equality  of  treatment  of  all  nations, 
and  for  the  well-being  of  the  native  races.” 

Throughout  the  discussion  which  took  place  before  the 
final  drafting  and  signature  of  the  Act,  we  find  the  British 
delegate  constantly  making  suggestions  on  behalf  of  the 
natives,  in  regard  to  their  freedom  in  commercial  matters, 
in  regard  to  slavery  and  the  slave-trade,  in  regard  to  the 
importation  of  alcoholic  liquor. 

A perusual  of  these  discussions  shows  that  in  accordance 
with  the  inaugural  statement  of  the  President,  all  the  dele- 
gates were  at  one  in  considering  the  freedom  of  the  natives  to 
trade  as  the  primary  guarantee  of  their  collective  and  individual 
liberty^  their  principal  safeguard  against  oppression  and  injustice, 
Baron  Lambermont,  the  senior  Belgian  delegate,  opined 
that  this  freedom  in  commercial  transactions  would  prove  in 
itself  to  be  an  impediment  “ to  the  temptation  of  imposing 
abusive  taxes” ; Baron  de  Courcel,  the  senior  French  dele- 
gate, was  emphatic  as  to  the  need  of  guarding  against  the 
fundamental  vice  of  sixteenth-century  colonisation,  which 
looked  upon  native  peoples  in  the  light  of  suppliers  of  revenue 
for  a European  metropolis.  Count  Launay,  the  delegate  for 
Italy,  was  anxious  to  secure  that  freedom  of  trade  should  be 
protected  from  interference  not  for  a specified  period  of  years, 
but  for  all  time.  Herr  Woermann — the  great  West  African 
shipowner  and  merchant  of  Hamburg — one  of  the  experts 
consulted  by  the  Conference,  explained  the  nature  of  West 
African  trade,  e.g,^  the  barter  of  forest  or  agricultural  pro- 
duce by  the  native  owners  and  gatherers  of  such,  for  imported 
European  merchandise.  A special  committee  was  appointed 
by  the  Conference  to  prepare  a report  on  the  subject,  and  this 

19 


Red  Rubber 


report,  signed  by  the  delegates  of  Belgium  and  France,  was 
submitted  to  the  Conference  and  adopted.  All  monopolies, 
or  exclusive  privileges  in  matters  of  trade,  were  prohibited  : 
the  words  “ monopoly  ” and  “ privilege  ” were  analysed 
etymologically.  In  short,  every  conceivable  precaution  was 
taken  to  ensure  Lord  Granville’s  determination  that  “ free- 
dom of  trade  and  the  protection  of  the  natives  ” should  be 
secured  throughout  the  Congo  valley. 

The  last  sitting  of  the  Conference  but  one,  on  February 
23,  was  noteworthy.  The  president  opened  it  by  reading 
out  to  the  assembled  delegates  the  contents  of  a letter  com- 
municated to  him  by  the  representative  of  King  Leopold, 
in  which  the  writer — Colonel  Strauch — after  notifying  to 
the  President  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  the  Belgians  that 
the  International  Association  had  concluded  separate  con- 
ventions with  the  delegates  of  all  the  Powers  represented  at 
the  Conference  save  one,  went  on  to  say  : — 

“ The  meetings  and  deliberations  of  the  distinguished  Assembly 
sitting  at  Berlin  under  your  high  presidency,  have  materially 
contributed  to  hasten  this  happy  result.  The  Conference  to 
which  it  is  my  duty  to  render  homage,  would,  I venture  to  hope, 
consider  the  accession  of  a Power  whose  exclusive  mission  is  to 
introduce  civilisation  and  trade  into  the  centre  of  Africa,  as  a 
further  pledge  of  the  fruits  which  its  important  labour  must 
produce.” 

Then  ensued  a pathetic  scene  ; the  delegates,  figuratively 
speaking,  fell  upon  each  other’s  necks  and  wept  with 
emotion.  “ The  new  State,”  declared  Baron  de  Courcel 
(France),  “has  been  dedicated  to  the  exercise  of  every 
liberty.”  Sir  Edward  Malet  (England)  followed  with  a 
panegyric  of  King  Leopold. 

“The  whole  world,”  exclaimed  Count  Launay  (Italy),  “can  but 
testify  to  its  sympathy  and  its  encouragement  for  this  civilising 
and  humanitarian  work  which  honours  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  from  which  the  general  interests  of  humanity  benefit  and 
will  continue  increasingly  to  benefit.” 

The  Count  of  Banomar  (Spain)  shared  the  views  of 
Count  Launay  as  to  the  “ humane  and  civilising  work  of 
His  Majesty  the  King  of  the  Belgians,”  and  likewise  M.  de 
Vind  (Denmark),  and  the  representative  of  Sweden  and 

20 


International  African  Association 


Norway.  M.  Sanford  (America)  rendered  “ homage  to  this 
great  civilising  work.”  Count  van  der  Straeten-Ponthoz 
(Belgium)  was  grateful.  He  added  : — 

“ The  Belgian  Government  and  nation  will  adhere,  therefore, 
with  gratitude  to  the  labours  of  this  High  Assembly,  and  thanks 
to  which  the  existence  of  the  new  State  is  henceforth  assured,  while 
principles  have  been  laid  down  from  which  the  general  interests 
of  humanity  will  profit." 

The  general  Act  of  this  West  African  Conference  as 
agreed  to,  provides  (Article  I.)  that : — 

“The  trade  of  all  nations  shall  enjoy  complete  freedom.” 

Article  V. — “No  Power  which  exercises  or  shall  exercise 
sovereign  rights  in  the  above-mentioned  regions  shall  be  allowed 
to  grant  therein  a monopoly  or  favour  of  any  kind  in  matters  of 
I trade.  Foreigners  without  distinction  shall  enjoy  protection  of 
! their  persons  and  property,  as  well  as  the  right  of  acquiring  and 
transferring  movable  and  immovable  possessions ; and  national 
rights  and  treatment  in  the  exercise  of  their  professions.” 

Article  VI. — “All  the  Powers  exercising  sovereign  rights  or 
influence  in  the  aforesaid  territories  bind  themselves  to  watch 
I over  the  preservation  of  the  native  tribes,  and  to  care  for  the 
' improvement  of  the  condition  of  their  moral  and  material  well- 
I being,  and  to  help  in  suppressing  slavery,  and  especially  the 
! Slave  Trade.  They  shall,  without  distinction  of  creed  or  nation, 

' protect  and  favour  all  religious,  scientific,  or  charitable  institutions, 
and  undertakings  created  and  organised  for  the  above  ends,  or 
I which  aim  at  instructing  the  natives  and  bringing  home  to  them 
I the  blessings  of  civilisation. 

' “Christian  missionaries,  scientists,  and  explorers,  with  their 
I followers,  property  and  collections,  shall  likewise  be  the  objects 
of  especial  protection. 

“ Freedom  of  conscience  and  religious  toleration  are  expressly 
guaranteed  to  the  natives,  no  less  than  to  subjects  and  foreigners. 
The  free  and  public  exercise  of  all  forms  of  Divine  worship,  and 
the  right  to  build  edifices  for  religious  purposes,  and  to  organise 
religious  missions  belonging  to  all  creeds,  shall  not  be  limited  or 
fettered  in  any  way  whatsoever.” 

I 

Articles  XIII.  to  XXV.  deal  with  the  navigation  of 
( the  Congo,  of  which  more  anon. 

I On  August  I,  1885,  King  Leopold  notified  the  Signa- 
i tory  Powers  that  the  International  Association  would  be 
henceforth  known  as  the  “Congo  Free  State,”  and  himself 
i as  Sovereign  of  that  “ State.” 


21 


Red  Rubber 


Let  us  summarise  these  facts  : 

I.  Sir  Robert  Morier  proposes  to  Lord  Beaconsfield  that 
“ the  rigime  of  the  Congo  should  form  a leading  chapter 
in  a large  settlement  of  African  affairs.”  One  feature  of 
this  scheme  is  that  the  river  “ be  placed  under  some  form  of 
international  control.”  Lord  Beaconsfield  rejects  the  idea 
and  Lord  Carnarvon  repudiates  Consul  Cameron’s  procla- 
mation taking  possession  of  the  Congo  basin  in  the  name 
of  Great  Britain. 

II.  Stanley’s  discoveries  of  the  mighty  fluvial  system  of 
the  Congo,  bend  all  eyes  towards  Central  Africa. 

III.  The  King  of  the  Belgians  founds  an  International 
Association  ostensibly  to  promote  “ civilisation  and  trade  ” 
in  Central  Africa. 

IV.  France  and  Portugal  take  alarm  and  put  forward 
political  claims  in  that  direction. 

V.  King  Leopold  fearing  for  his  enterprise  which  has 
already  begun  to  assume  a political  and — we  may  presume 
by  subsequent  events — financial  complexion,  appeals  to  the 
British  Government  privately  for  support. 

VI.  Portugal  appeals  to  Great  Britain  likewise.  She 
proposes  that  the  River  Congo  shall  be  thrown  open  to  the 
trade  of  the  whole  world,  that  the  river  itself  shall  be  placed 
under  an  Anglo-Portuguese  River  Commission  to  which 
the  successive  adhesion  of  the  other  Powers  would  be 
welcome. 

VII.  King  Leopold’s  scheme  is  not  trusted  by  the  British 
Government,  which  favours  the  Portuguese  proposal,  and 
Mr.  Gladstone  recommends  agreement  while  making  it 
clear  that  England  has  no  intention  of  securing  any 
exclusive  advantage  for  herself. 

VIII.  King  Leopold  is,  meanwhile,  making  desperate 
efforts  to  capture  British  public  opinion  and  to  influence  it 
against  the  Anglo-Portuguese  treaty.  To  the  philanthropic 
section  of  the  British  public  he  represents  his  enterprise  as 
a great  humanitarian  undertaking.  To  the  commercial 
world  of  Great  Britain  he  describes  its  main  purpose  as 
securing  for  ever  Central  Africa  to  commercial  liberty, 


• “The  Life  of  Lord  Granville.”  Lord  Fitzmaurice. 
22 


International  African  Association 


free  from  vexatious  imports  and  tariffs.  He  succeeds  in 
raising  a storm  of  opposition  in  England  against  the  Anglo- 
Portuguese  Treaty. 

IX.  Germany  is  in  a grumbling  mood,  and  France, 
encouraged  by  the  home  opposition  in  England,  protests 
against  the  Treaty. 

X.  The  British  Government  in  view  of  these  attacks  at 
home  and  abroad  abandons  the  Treaty  with  Portugal  and 
henceforth  supports  King  Leopold’s  scheme,  for  the  same 
reason  which  led  it  to  support  Portugal,  but,  still  mistrust- 
ing the  king’s  intentions,  determines  that  stringent  conditions 
for  the  good  treatment  of  natives  and  the  freedom  of 
commerce  shall  be  secured. 

XI.  Agrees  to  participate  in  an  International  West 
African  Conference  suggested  by  Bismarck  to  settle  the 
question. 

XII.  Exchanges  declaration  and  signs  a Convention 
with  King  Leopold’s  Association  on  the  lines  above 
indicated. 

XIII.  Takes  a leading  part  in  the  Conference  at  Berlin 
which  results  in  freedom  of  commerce,  prohibition  of 
monopoly  or  privilege,  and  just  treatment  of  the  natives 
being  solemnly  proclaimed. 

A good  many  morals  might  be  drawn  from  this  record, 
but  it  will  suffice  to  accentuate  three  conclusions,  and 
these  are  : 

A.  King  Leopold’s  “ International  Association  ” would 
have  dissolved  into  thin  air  but  for  the  separate  and  collec- 
tive action  of  the  Powers  in  allowing  it  to  blossom  from 
a private  undertaking  into  a great  free  area  under  the 
trusteeship  of  the  Sovereign  of  a small  neutral  European 
State. 

B.  Without  British  sanction,  co-operation,  and  assistance, 
no  such  arrangement  could  possibly  have  been  arrived  at. 

C.  But  for  the  influence  exercised  by  King  Leopold 
and  his  agents  upon  British  public  opinion,  the  British 
Government  would  never  have  given  its  sanction  to  the 
arrangement. 


23 


IV 

A PROGRAMME  IN  THREE  PARTS 

“It  appears  to  me  that  the  facts  I have  stated  afford  amply 
sufficient  proof  of  the  spirit  which  animates  the  Belgian  ad- 
ministration, if  indeed  administration  it  can  be  called.” — Lord 
Cromer,  White  Book,  Africa,  No.  i,  1904. 

The  first  five  years  of  the  “ Congo  Free  State’s”  existence 
were  devoted  by  King  Leopold  to  the  maturing  of  the  vast 
financial,  military,  and  political  programme  he  had  been 
caressing — as  must  now  be  clear  to  the  average  intellect — 
if  not  from  the  very  commencement  of  his  undertaking, 
at  least  very  shortly  after  its  inauguration.  There  were 
many  things  to  accomplish  in  the  interval.  One  of  the 
most  important  was  the  establishment  on  a solid  founda- 
tion of  the  claim  to  philanthropic  motive,  which  later  on 
might  be  contested  by  pestilent  critics,  animated,  of 
course,  with  the  most  unworthy  motives.  Large  drafts 
were  therefore  made  upon  public  credulity,  and  the  re- 
source displayed  in  this  regard  was  elevated  to  a fine  art. 
Royal  decrees,  laws,  and  regulations  followed  in  rapid 
succession,  breathing  the  very  quintessence  of  philanthropy. 
Those  which  breathed  another  sort  of  essence,  the  King, 
as  we  shall  see  in  a moment,  thoughtfully  refrained  from 
publishing.  Friendly  relations  were  established  with  the 
unspeakable  Arab  whose  ill-deeds  were  shortly  to  be 
trumpeted  all  over  the  world.  Very  great  activity  was 
displayed  in  despatching,  exploring,  and  reconnoitring 
expeditions  throughout  the  country. 

24 


A Programme  in  Three  Parts 

Yet,  towards  the  end  of  this  first  period  of  King 
Leopold’s  enterprise,  ugly  rumours  were  already  gaining 
currency.  A policy  of  veiled  antagonism  had  been  set  on 
foot  in  the  Lower  Congo  towards  European  merchants 
there  settled.  Trade  instead  of  being  encouraged  was  in 
process  of  being  throttled  by  heavy  taxation.  A decree  was 
issued  claiming  all  “ vacant  lands  ” as  the  property  of  the 
State ; subsequent  decrees  whittling  down  the  rights  of 
the  native  to  the  area  upon  which  his  hut  was  built,  or 
his  cultivated  patch  of  farm  land.  Another  decree  pro- 
hibited the  hunting  of  the  elephant  “ throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  the  State’s  territory  (three-fourths  of  which  had 
not  at  that  time  been  trodden  by  the  white  man’s  foot) 
without  special  permission,”  special  permission  being  with- 
held ; yet  another  decree  prohibited  the  trade  in  india  rubber 
I and  gum  copal — e.g.^  in  the  only  articles  ex-ivory,  it  was 
t possible  to  trade  in — in  the  Aruwimi  district,  and  so 
on.  More  astonishing  than  aught  else,  perhaps,  was  the 
1 feverish  haste  with  which  a large  body  of  troops  recruited 
\ from  the  most  savage  tribes  in  the  Upper  Congo  was  being 
, raised  and  equipped  with  modern  rifles  of  precision.*  By 

i 1889,  2,200  “regulars”  had  been  recruited.  An  official 

' report  of  that  year  foreshadowed  the  recruiting  of  5,000 
in  the  Bangala  country,  and  3,000  more  in  the  Aruwimi 
district.  Confidential  circulars  which  only  became  known 
last  year  and  this,  and  with  which  not  a dozen  people  in 
this  country  are  probably  acquainted,  were  despatched  to  the 
King’s  officials  on  the  Congo.  Here  is  an  extract  from  one 
I of  these  circulars  signed  by  the  then  principal  Secretary  on 
the  King’s  Brussels  staff : 

I “ The  Congo  State  will  allot  for  each  recruit  obtained  a bonus 
on  the  following  lines  : 90  francs  for  every  healthy  and  vigoiDus 
'■  man  considered  fit  for  military  service,  and  whose  stature  exceeds 
i I metre  55  centimetres  ; 65  francs  for  every  youth  who  stature  is 
at  least  i metre  35  centimetres  ; 15  francs  per  male  child.  The 
I male  children  must  be  at  least  i metre  20  centimetres  in  height, 
, and  must  be  sufficiently  strong  to  be  able  to  support  the  fatigues 
) of  the  road.  For  every  married  man  the  bonus  will  be  increased 
to  130  francs.  The  bonus  will  only  fall  due  when  the  men 


! ‘ The  Albini  rifle. 

25 

I 

I 


Red  Rubber 


have  been  handed  over  to  the  headquarters  of  the  various 
districts.”  ‘ 

The  children  were  drafted  to  the  “camps  of  military 
instruction,”  to  be  made  soldiers  of  in  due  course.^  The 
recruits  were  obtained  by  armed  raids  upon  villages,  differing 
in  no  degree  from  the  raids  of  the  Arabs  except  that  they 
were  accompanied  by  greater  loss  of  life.  In  this  way  the 
Bangala  country  has  been  drained  of  its  life-blood,  and  the 
population  reduced  in  the  last  fifteen  years  by  about  75  per 
cent.,  as  Mr.  Weeks  will  tell  us  in  the  next  chapter  ; similar 
results  have  followed  in  the  Bakussu  and  Batetla  country — 
indeed,  I believe,  the  Batetlas  are  practically  wiped  out. 
Another  confidential  circular,  dated  October,  1891,  and 
signed  by  the  Acting  Governor-General  in  the  Congo, 
M.  Felix  Fuchs,  informs  the  District  Commissioners  that 
the  Government  has  set  aside  a sum  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand francs,  which  sum  it  is  free  to  distribute,  partly  or 
wholly,  or  not  at  all,  “with  the  object  of  rewarding  the 
District  Commissioners  and  their  subordinates  who  show 
exceptional  zeal  and  devotion  in  the  accomplishment  of  all 
the  duties  which  are  incumbent  upon  them.”  The  cir- 
cular goes  on  to  explain  that  the  sine  qua  non  of  the 
allotment  of  these  bonuses  is  the  rigorous  fulfilment  of 
the  decrees  bearing  upon  recruiting. 

“ It  must  be  well  understood  that  no  bonus  will  be  granted  in 
districts  which  do  not  carry  out  the  recruiting  operations  pro- 
vided in  the  decree  of  July  30,  1891.  The  maximum  of  bonus 
will  be  allotted  only  to  those  District  Commissioners  who  recruit 
at  least  the  number  of  men  above  mentioned  for  1902.  These 
recruiting  operations  are  distinct  from  voluntary  enlistments, 
which  will  continue  as  before.  The  balance  of  the  credit  not 
allotted  will  be  distributed  among  the  districts  which  recruit 
more  than  the  number  of  men  here  mentioned.’’^ 

So  direct  and  explicit  a command  to  raid  slaves,  necessitated 
extreme  secrecy,  and  we  find  the  Acting  Governor-General 

' Official  shorthand  report,  Belgian  Parliamentary  Debates, 
February-March,  1906. 

® These  were  a portion  of  the  liberes — so-called  free  slaves. 
See  Section  II. 

3 Official  shorthand  report,  Belgian  Parliamentary  Debates, 
March,  1905. 

26 


A Programme  in  Three  Parts 


recommending  that  the  circular  “ must  under  no  pretext 
be  removed  from  your  archives.  You  will  convey  to  your 
subordinates  such  explanations  as  may  be  necessary  in 
connection  with  this  circular,  verbally''  These  instruc- 
tions led  to  a further  crop  of  circulars,  of  which  the 
following  may  be  considered  a type  : — 

" Coquilhatville,  May  i,  1896, — Chief  Ngulu  of  Wangata  is 
sent  into  the  Maringa  to  buy  slaves  for  me.  The  agents  of  the 
A.B.I.R.  are  requested  to  inform  me  of  the  depredations  he 
may  commit  en  route.  Signed,  Captain  Commandant  Sarrazin 
District  Commissioner  of  the  Equator.”' 

The  humanitarian  undertaking  began  to  wear  a curious 
aspect. 

In  1890  King  Leopold  broke  with  the  Arabs,  and 
appealed  to  the  Powers  to  allow  him  to  impose  import 
duties  on  merchandise  in  order  to  raise  money  with  which 
to  fight  the  wicked  Arabs,  those  inconvenient  competitors 
in  ivory — the  “Congo  Free  State”  had  already  imposed  an 
export  duty  of  ;^8o  per  ton  on  ivory  and  £20  on  rubber^ — 
ostensibly  to  crush  their  slave-trading  operations.  This 
demand,  coupled  with  the  acts  previously  referred  to — f.^., 
exorbitant  taxation  of  trade,  prohibition  of  elephant  hunting, 
partial  prohibition  of  rubber  trading,  etc., — was  too  much 
for  the  Dutch  Government,  whose  subjects  drove  a con- 
siderable trade  in  the  lower  river.  It  shook  the  faith  ot 
the  British  Chambers  of  Commerce,  and  disgusted  a section, 
at  least,  of  the  philanthropic  element.  Mr.  F.  W.  Fox, 
for  instance,  made  what  has  since  become,  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  events,  a most  remarkable  prediction,  at  a 
public  meeting,  held  on  November  4 of  that  year  in 
London.  He  said  : 

“ There  is  an  impression,  very  widely  existing  among  the 
people  in  the  Congo  State,  that  when  this  money  is  voted  by  the 
Brussels  Conference,  there  will  be  war  and  raids  instead  of  any 
beneficial  result,  and  that  great  evils  will  grow  far  greater  than 


‘ Official  shorthand  report,  Belgian  Parliamentary  Debates, 
March,  1905. 

* The  West  African  Conference  had  prohibited  the  levying  of 
import  dues;  but  had  not  prohibited  the  imposition  of  export 
dues. 


27 


Red  Rubber 


the  slave  trade  as  existing  at  present.  (Hear,  hear.)  We  con- 
tend that  it  ought  to  be  suppressed  by  judicious  efforts,  by  the 
extension  of  legitimate  commerce,  by  fair  consideration  for  the 
natives,  by  being  just  to  the  Arabs  and  enlisting  their  sympathy,  and 
not  by  exterminating  the  natives  or  the  Arabs  in  a series  of  w'ars.” 

But  the  same  old  tactics  were  resorted  to  which  had  been 
used  to  such  advantage  to  hound  on  British  opinion  against 
the  Anglo-Portuguese  Treaty.  Public  and  Press  were 
-flooded  with  inspired  articles  and  pamphlets  representing 
the  Dutch  Government  and  all  who  shared  its  views  as 
friendly  to  the  slave  trade.  Finally,  King  Leopold  got 
what  he  wanted,  a mandate  from  Christendom  to  extermi- 
nate the  Arabs  ; and,  on  the  strength  of  it,  obtained 
,^1,000,000  from  Belgium  as  a cash-down  recognition  of 
his  generosity  in  leaving  the  Congo  to  her  in  his  will.^ 
Thus  doubly  fortified,  the  sovereign  of  the  “Congo  Free 
State”  brought  his  plans  rapidly  to  a head.  The  royal 
programme  was  divided  into  three  parts,  between  which 
there  existed  a close  correlation. 

I.  The  extermination  of  the  Arabs.  II.  The  conquest  of 
the  Soudan.  III.  The  conversion  of  the  Congo  Basin,  its 
economic  riches,  and  its  human  inhabitants  into  the  private 
property  of  the  Sovereign.  The  disappearance  of  the  Arab 
had  a twofold  advantage.  It  would  strengthen  King 
Leopold’s  reputation  for  philanthropy  in  the  world,  enabling 
him  to  pose  more  than  ever  as  the  “Godefroi  de  Bouillon  of 
the  nineteenth-century  crusade,”  and,  incidentally,  would 
place  in  his  hands  not  only  the  ivory  markets  occupied  by 
the  Arabs,  but  the  vast  stores  of  that  article  held  by  them. 
This  was  accomplished.  The  second  was  on  the  high  road 
to  success  when  at  the  last  moment  it  fell  to  pieces.  Four 
thousand  rifles,  one  thousand  irregulars  armed  with  lances, 
and  hundreds  of  porters,  together  with  a considerable 
force  of  artillery,  marched  Nilewards  after  concentrating 
at  Dungu.  There  were  two  columns.  The  first, 
under  Chaltin,  had  only  750  rifles.  Nevertheless  it 
occupied  the  left  bank  of  the  Nile  up  to  Rejaf,  driving 
the  Dervishes  before  it.  The  second,  under  Dhanis, 

met  with  complete  disaster  owing  to  the  mutiny  of 


' Vide  Section  V. 
28 


A Programme  in  Three  Parts 


1 the  greater  part  of  the  force.  Had  this  event  not  taken 

, place,  the  history  of  the  last  few  years  might  have  undergone 

no  small  change,  for  King  Leopold’s  objective  was  Khar- 
toum ; his  ambition,  to  play  the  part  of  “ honest  broker” 

I between  France  and  England  for  the  settlement  of  the 

j Egyptian  question.  The  ambition  was  a large  one,  but  it 

was  seriously  entertained,  and  the  chance  of  success  was  not 
j at  all  remote.  As  it  was,  his  partial  triumph  lured  Lord 
I Rosebery  into  the  unfortunate  Agreement  of  1894  over  the 
Bahr-el-Ghazal,  which  alienated  us  from  Germany  in  Congo 
I matters,  and  nearly  brought  us  to  war  with  France. 

The  third  part  of  the  programme  needs  to  be  handled  in 
! greater  detail,  for,  like  the  first  it  has  been  carried  out  only 
I too  completely,  and  to  its  realisation  is  primarily  due  the 
abomination  of  desolation  into  which  the  Congo  territories 
have  been  plunged. 

Before  the  birth  of  the  “Congo  Free  State”  a brisk 
trade  with  the  natives  of  the  Upper  Congo  was  carried  on 
by  European  merchants  established  on  the  lower  river, 

' through  the  native  middlemen,  the  Ba-Congo.  These 
Ba-Congo  caravans  transported  goods  from  the  European 
. factories  into  the  interior  by  the  caravan  road  passing  level 
' with  the  200  miles  of  cataracts  which,  prior  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  railway  by  Colonel  Thys,i  separated  the 
lower  river  from  the  upper.  At  the  head  of  the  cataracts 
(Stanley  Pool)  they  disposed  of  their  goods  to  the  natives 
! who  awaited  them  in  canoes,  some  of  which  hailed  from 
enormous  distances  in  the  interior,  receiving  in  exchange 
j produce,  chiefly  ivory  and  rubber,  which  they  brought  down 
' again  to  the  European  factories.  With  the  advent  of  the 
“ Congo  F ree  State,”  Belgians,  F renchmen,  and  Englishmen, 
i in  the  employ  of  a powerful  trading  Company  registered  in 
I Belgium,  La  Societi  Anonyme  beige  pour  le  commerce  du  Haut 
j Congo,  started  factories  on  the  upper  reaches  of  the  river, 
dealing  direct  with  the  natives  of  the  country.  They 
I pushed  inland  along  the  banks,  and  purchased  ivory  and 
I rubber  with  European  goods.  They  laid  the  foundation  of 
legitimate  business  transactions  with  the  “ enterprising. 


* Vide  Section  V. 
29 


Red  Rubber 


high-spirited” — as  Stanley  called  them — races  of  the  Upper 
Congo,  the  nucleus  of  a trade  which  would  have  gone  on 
expanding  as  has  been  the  case  everywhere  in  West  Africa, 
in  Nigeria,  Senegambia — all  down  the  coast,  in  fact, 
gradually  penetrating  inland  as  native  enterprise  grew  with 
the  improvement  of  ways  of  communication,  and  the 
increased  accessibility  of  native  markets.  Stanley  in  refer- 
ring— in  the  course  of  his  public  speeches  in  1884 — to  the 
future  possibilities  of  the  Congo  trade  if  placed  under  the 
auspices  of  a philanthropic  monarch,  had  been  positively 
lyrical  in  his  enthusiasm,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  had  that 
trade  been  allowed  to  develop,  its  proportions  to-day  would 
have  been  very  large.  What  a different  picture  we  should 
have  had  to  contemplate  ! 

But  the  role  of  supreme  administrator  of  a tropical  depen- 
dency run  on  lines  of  decency,  justice  and  legitimate  com- 
merce, such  as  was  understood  to  be  the  King’s  intention  at 
the  West  African  Conference,  simply  did  not  enter  into 
that  monarch’s  purview.  The  part  would  have  been  alto- 
gether too  confined.  His  ideas  were  widely  different.  He 
was,  indeed,  “ a dreamer  of  dreams  ” as  Stanley  had  described 
him,  but  not  of  that  sort  of  dream.  He  wished  to  cut  a 
great  figure  in  the  world,  a desire  impossible  of  accomplish- 
ment without  vast  financial  resources  which  he  did  not 
possess.  So,  the  royal  feet  being  now  firmly  planted  on 
African  soil,  the  royal  position  in  Europe  being  secure,  the 
royal  will  entered,  with  immovable  determination  to  crush 
all  obstacles,  on  its  predestined  course.  . . . 

A secret  decree  dated  September  21,  1891,  and  the 
measures  taken  by  the  King’s  officials  in  Africa  upon 
receipt  of  it,  changed  the  whole  outlook  of  affairs  in  Central 
Africa,  and  revolutionised  the  actual  and  future  situation  ot 
its  millions  of  inhabitants.  This  decree  laid  down  as  the 
paramount  duty  of  the  officials  of  the  “Congo  Free  State” 
the  raising  of  revenue,  “ to  take  urgent  and  necessary 
measures  to  secure  for  the  State  the  domainial  fruits  {anglic\ 
the  produce  of  the  country)  notably  ivory  and  rubber.”  It 
was  followed  by  a series  of  regulations  issued  by  the 
Governor-General  through  the  District  Commissioners, 
forbidding  the  natives  to  sell  ivory  and  rubber  to  European 

30 


A Programme  in  Three  Parts 


I merchants,  and  threatening  the  latter  with  prosecution  if 
they  bought  these  articles  from  the  natives. 

The  merchants  protested,  and  the  King  in  reply  defined 
; his  position.  Everything  in  the  country  belonged  to  the 
j “State”;  the  land  and  the  produce  thereof.  The  natives 
were  tenants  upon  the  “ State’s  ” property.  If  they  inter- 
fered with  that  property  they  were  poachers,  and  whosoever 
I abetted  them  in  that  interference  were  criminals,  receivers 
of  stolen  goods,  and  violators  of  the  law  of  the  land. 

In  that  way  did  King  Leopold  by  a stroke  of  the  pen 
appropriate  Central  Africa. 

To  leave  his  officials  under  no  misapprehension  as  to  his 
intentions,  other  secret  instructions  were  despatched  by  the 
I King  to  his  Governor-General.  Some  of  these  secret  docu- 
I ments  have  recently  come  to  light,  but  as  they  are  practically 
i unknown  in  this  country — owing  to  the  limited  means  of 
the  Congo  Reform  Association — and  as  they  are  of  tran- 
scendental importance  to  a proper  understanding  of  the 
I policy  of  brigandage  substituted  by  King  Leopold  for  the 
' “ freedom  of  commerce  ” laid  down  in  the  Conventions  and 
I at  the  West  African  Conference,  from  which  King  Leopold 
( derives  his  trusteeship  as  over-lord  of  the  Congo,  I make  no 
’ apology  for  giving  them  here. 


“ Brussels,  June  20,  1892. 

I “ To  the  Governor  General. — As  I have  had  the  honour  upon 
I several  occasions  of  informing  you,  the  Officials  of  the  Congo 
' State  must  neglect  no  means  of  exploiting  the  produce  of  the 
forests.  They  must  succeed  in  keeping  commerce  informed  of 
i the  riches  of  our  territories,  and  gradually  bring  about  a con- 
I siderable  traffic  towards  Stanley  Pool  for  the  period  when  the 
I railway  is  opened. 

I “ To  stimulate  the  zeal  of  our  officials  in  this  matter,  I have 
I decided  that  in  future  a bonus  proportionate  to  the  cost  of 
I exploitation  shall  be  allotted  to  those  who  are  concerned  with 
forest  exploitation.  These  bonuses  will  be  established  as 
I follows : 

15c.  bonus  per  kilo  on  rubber  costing  30c.  and  less  per  kilo. 

31C.  to  40c.  „ 

40c.  to  49c.  „ 

50c.  to  S9C.  „ 

60c.  to  69c. 

70C.  to  80c. 


I2fC. 

IOC. 

8c. 

6c. 

4c. 


31 


1; 

>1 


Red  Rubber 


“ For  gum  copal  and  wax  as  follows  : 

15c.  bonus  per  kilo  on  gum,  &c.,  costing  5c.  and  less  per  kilo. 
IOC.  „ „ 6c.  to  IOC.  „ „ 

5c.  „ „ lie.  to  15c.  „ „ 

“For  ivory  costing  the  State  in  the  Congo  15  francs,  I shall 
give  no  bonus. 


On  ivory  costing  14!.  I will 

give  a bonus  of  15c. 

..  1.  i3f- 

)} 

>} 

30c. 

„ „ I2f. 

t) 

ft 

45c. 

» » Ilf- 

f} 

tf 

60c. 

„ „ lof. 

n 

ft 

75c- 

•)  1)  Qf- 

» 

ff 

90c. 

,,  „ 8f. 

ff 

ft 

if.  5c. 

>>  II  7^- 

f> 

ff 

if.  20c. 

II  II  6f. 

jf 

ff 

If.  35c- 

II  II  sf- 

>> 

f$ 

if.  50c. 

II  II  4^- 

t) 

ff 

if.  65c. 

„ „ 3f.  and  less 

ft 

if.  80c. 

“ For  scrivelloes  ' and  defective  tusks,  the  bonus  can  be  reduced 
as  the  Government  may  decide,  to  one  half  the  above  figures. 
A proportion  of  the  bonuses  due  may  be  given  to  a subordinate 
in  accordance  with  the  lists  which  must  be  furnished  me  by 
Station  Chiefs,  District  Commissioners,  and  Leaders  of  Expedi- 
tions. This  measure  will  begin  and  will  apply  to  all  products 
collected  from  October  ist.  It  will  not  be  retrospective  and 
annuls  all  preceding  regulations  on  the  subject. 

“ The  Secretary  of  State, 

“ {Sgd.)  Van  Eetvelde. 

“Certified  correct,  Governor-General  Wahis.”® 

Thus  the  less  the  Official  employed  by  King  Leopold 
cost  his  royal  master  in  obtaining  his  royal  master  revenues, 
the  more  his  royal  master  was  pleased,  and  the  greater  his 
reward.  The  less  the  native  got  for  his  rubber  and  ivory, 
the  larger  the  Official’s  commission  ! A more  direct  in- 
centive to  robbery  and  violence  was  never  penned.  There 
are  times  when  the  recorder  of  the  Congo  tragedy  stops 
short  with  a mental  gasp,  and  pauses  before  he  goes  on 
again,  to  wonder  whether  he  is  the  victim  of  hallucination. 

On  February  6,  1893,  M.  Felix  Fuchs,  Acting- 
Governor-General,  forwards  a circular  to  Inspectors, 


’ Small  tusks. 

® Official  shorthand  report,  Belgium  Parliamentary  Debates, 
March,  1905. 


32 


SALA  OF  WALA 


A Programme  in  Three  Parts 


District  Commissioners,  Commanders  of  Expeditions, 
Heads  of  Stations — those  “ fine  Stations”  we  shall  hear 
about  presently — which  says  : 

“ The  State  cannot  assure  its  future  unless  it  finds  the  where- 
withal to  defray  its  expenditure.  The  exploitation  of  its  Domaine 
Prive  is  in  this  respect  an  important  asset.  It  is  of  paramount 
necessity  therefore,  that  the  State  should  obtain  promptly  there- 
from the  necessary  revenue  to  balance  its  expenditure.” 

This  philanthropic  document  proceeds  : 

“ At  present  it  is  chiefly  necessary  to  give  an  energetic  im- 
pulse to  the  collection  of  rubber  and  ivory.  As  regards  the  first 
of  these  products,  the  task  of  the  District  Commissioner,  who 
has  jurisdiction  over  a portion  of  the  Domaine  Prive,  will  be 
lacilitated  in  large  measure  by  the  fact  that  no  private  person 
can  buy  rubber  therein  unless  he  has  obtained  already  a con- 
cession of  a portion  of  the  Domaine  Prive.  . . . The  Government 
hopes  that  you  will  do  your  utmost  to  carry  out  its  behests,  and 
that  you  will  collect  the  greatest  quantity  of  the  various  products 
of  the  Domaine.” ' 

This  from  a “ Government  ” to  its  officials. 

The  German  Government  having  got  wind  of  this 
singular  fashion  of  interpreting  the  articles  of  the  West 
African  Conference,  protested  in  the  most  vigorous  terms 
through  its  Minister  at  Brussels,  Count  Alvensleben. 
Astonishing  as  it  may  seem  to  those  who  have  not  yet 
realised  that  Niccolo  Machiavelli’s  precepts  have  been 
adopted  and  vastly  extended  by  his  modern  prototype. 
King  Leopold  denied  absolutely  and  repeatedly  that  any 
bonus  was  paid  to  his  officials  on  ivory  and  rubber.  Here 
is  the  letter  which  closes  the  correspondence  : 


“ Brussels,  December  ii,  1895. 

“ Monsieur  le  Comte. — In  reply  to  the  communication  of  your 
Excellency  of  the  7th  of  this  month,  I beg,  without  entering  into 
an  examination  of  the  question  of  right,  to  declare  formally  that 
there  does  not  exist  any  commercial  premiums  for  the  agents  of 
the  Independent  State  of  the  Congo,  and  that  the  Government 
has  no  intention  of  establishing  any,  either  for  rubber  or  for 
ivory,  or  for  any  other  product  whatever, 

iSgd.)  Edmond  Van  Eetvelde.” 


' Official  shorthand  report,  Belgian  Parliamentary  Debates, 
March,  1905. 


33 


4 


Red  Rubber 


This  official  was  the  co-signatory  with  Sir  Edward  Grey 
the  other  day  to  a Convention  under  which  the  Congo 
forces  are  to  evacuate  certain  portions  of  British  territory 
they  have  occupied.  His  pledges  are  somewhat  at  a discount. 

The  system  of  paying  these  bonuses  on  revenue  col- 
lected has  taken  various  forms.  Here  are  extracts  from 
another  circular  dated  Boma,  January  3,  1896,  and  signed 
by  the  Governor-General,  Baron  Wahis  : 

“Boma,  January  3,  1896. 

“Gentlemen, — By  reason  of  the  decision  taken  by  the  Govern- 
ment to  suppress  bonuses  to  officials  connected  with  the 
exploitation  of  the  Domaine  in  respect  to  products  collected 
by  them,  the  Government  has  decided  to  grant  extra  bonuses 
to  officials  rendering  exceptional  services  to  the  State,  princi- 
pally in  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  country  and  the 
bettering  of  the  conditions  of  the  natives  (sic).  These  bonuses 
will  be  granted  according  to  the  suggestions  which  may  be  made 
by  the  Commanders  of  Expeditions  or  by  District  Commis- 
sioners. . . . These  bonuses,  however,  will  only  be  granted  in 
districts  which  produce  annually  to  the  State  at  least  50,000 
francs  in  taxes  paid  in  kind  by  the  natives — it  being  well  under- 
stood that  these  taxes  are  to  be  reckoned  in  products  sold  in 
Europe  for  the  benefit  of  the  Treasury.  Reports  as  to  collec- 
tion of  produce  must  continue  to  be  sent  to  me  regularly  to 
enable  the  Government  to  take  note  of  the  services  rendered  by 
our  officials,  and  to  check  the  arrivals  of  produce.  But  for  the 
previous  marginal  notes  will  be  substituted  others,  which  shall 
consist  in  allotting  to  officials  who  may  have  contributed 
directly  or  indirectly  to  the  collection  of  produce,  a certain 
number  of  marks  according  to  their  respective  merits,  the  total 
of  the  marks  being  represented  by  ten.  It  will  not  be  necessary 
to  mention  in  the  Report  the  names  of  District  Commissioners 
or  Commanders  of  Expeditons,  because  the  Government  will  be 
able,  according  to  the  produce  collected,  to  judge  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  services  of  these  Officials.  It  will  suffice,  there- 
fore, to  follow  the  name  of  the  Official  with  the  number  of  marks 
attributed  to  him,  according  to  the  services  he  has  rendered,  thus  : 


M.X.  Chef  de  Zone  

,.  5 marks. 

A.  Officer 

..  2 marks. 

B.  Non-commissioned  Officer  .. 

..  2 marks. 

C.  Clerk  

..  I mark. 

Total  ...  10 

(Sgd.)  Governor-General  Wahis.”  ' 


' Official  shorthand  report,  Belgian  Parliamentary  Debates, 
March,  1905. 

34 


A Programme  in  Three  Parts 


The  procedure  adopted  at  present  is  as  follows.  Officials 
whose  districts  have  produced  much  revenue  {e.g-,  rubber,  for 
the  ivory  is  becoming  exhausted)  receive  an  annual  grant : 
District  Commissioners  from  6,000  to  10,000  francs, 

I Captains  in  the  Force  Publique  4,000  to  7,000  francs; 
Lieutenants  in  the  Force  Publique  2,000  to  3,000  francs. 
Foreign  officers  who  are  inclined  to  be  disagreeable  when 
, they  return  are  lunched  by  the  King,  told  how  bad  are  the 
effects  of  the  African  sun  upon  the  European  temperament, 
assured  that  they  must  have  been  dreaming  or  misinformed, 
and  if  possible  a douceur  sends  them  away  happy — not  given 
direct  of  course  ; that  would  be  too  vulgar,  but  quietly 
arranged  in  a subsequent  confidential  chat  with  one  of  the 
high  officials.  The  grants  mentioned  above  take  the  form 
of  an  entry  to  the  grantee’s  credit  in  the  register  of  the 
four  per  cent.  Public  debt  {grand  livre  de  la  dette  publique) 
of  the  Congo  State,  on  which  interest  is  paid.  Permission 
is  afterwards  given  for  the  conversion  of  this  credit  entry 
into  bonds  to  bearer. 

It  is  very  ingenious  and  simple  withal.  The  official’s 
future  is  bound  up  with  the  production  of  revenue.  He 
I can  claim  nothing  from  the  King ; but  if  his  “ zeal  and 
j devotion  ” in  raiding  through  the  country  at  the  head  of 
an  armed  rubber-hunting  expedition  has  been  sufficient,  he 
' knows  that  he  will  be  rewarded.  If  he  is  wise  he  keeps  a 
j copy  of  his  instructions  from  headquarters,  which  will 
t enable  him  to  retaliate  in  kind  lest  by  any  chance  the  royal 
1 purse  strings  be  closed.  His  horizon  begins  with  rubber 

i and  ends  with  hard  cash — matabiche  in  Congo  slang.  The 

native  is  between  the  upper  and  nether  millstone. 

So  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now  and  ever  shall  be 
so  long  as  King  Leopold  and  his  financiers  are  allowed 
to  pirate  the  wealth  of  the  Congo  forests  by  armed 
force. 

Read  this  circular  given  in  the  White  Book  Africa 
No.  I,  1904.  It  is  dated  Boma,  March  29,  1901,  and  is 
I signed  by  the  inevitable  Baron  Wahis. 

“ The  quality  of  the  rubber  exported  from  the  Congo  is  sen- 
sibly inferior  to  what  it  was  some  time  ago.  The  difference 
arises  from  several  causes,  but  principally  from  the  addition  to 

35 


Red  Rubber 


the  latex*  which  is  fit  to  be  gathered,  of  other  kinds  of  latex  of 
very  inferior  value,  or  even  of  any  dust-like  matter.  This  cause 
of  loss  can  and  must  be  removed.” 

(I  may  here  remark  in  parenthesis  that  an  ingenious 
method  of  removing  it  has  been  practised  by  some  of  the 
subordinate  officials.  They  have  made  the  natives  eat  it 
when  badly  prepared.^) 

“ The  commissioners  of  districts  and  chiefs  of  zones  who  have 
all  experience,  know  the  fraudulent  means  which  the  natives 
often  try  to  employ.  They  must  take  measures  completely  to 
prevent  these  frauds.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  in  those  parts 
where  the  population  submits  to  the  tax  it  will  not  be  impossible 
to  lead  the  natives  to  furnish  pure  produce  ; but  in  order  to  effect 
this,  constant  supervision  is  necessary,  for  as  soon  as  the  native 
notices  that  the  supervision  is  becoming  lax  he  will  try  to  lessen 
his  work  by  taking  latex  of  a bad  quality,  if  he  obtains  it  easily, 
or  by  adding  foreign  matter.  Whenever  these  frauds  are  dis- 
covered they  must  be  put  down.  The  commissioners  of  districts 
and  chiefs  of  zones  must  examine  the  product  at  frequent  inter- 
vals, in  order  to  report  in  time  to  their  heads  of  stations,  and  not 
to  permit  a condition  of  affairs  which  is  most  prejudicial.  To 
this  cause  of  the  decline  in  the  value  of  rubber  must  be  added 
that  arising  from  defective  packing  of  the  produce,  which  thus 
often  travels  during  several  months  under  the  worst  conditions. 
Much  of  the  effort  which  has  been  taken  to  obtain  produce  in 
keeping  with  the  richness  of  the  country  may  be  said  to  be  lost 
through  this  neglect,  for  the  value  of  the  rubber  may  be  dimi- 
nished by  half  through  this  want  of  care.  I may  add  that  the 
value  of  rubber,  even  when  free  from  all  admixture,  has  gone 
down  in  every  market  for  some  time  past.  Ten-itorial  chiefs, 
therefore,  must  not  only  remove  the  two  causes  of  loss  which 
they  can  eliminate,  but  they  must  also  try  to  neutralise  the  third 
by  making  unceasing  efforts  to  increase  production  to  the  extent 
laid  down  in  the  instructions.  The  orders  which  I have  here 
given  will  have  my  constant  attention.” 

Such  circulars  as  these  rrom  the  fountain  head  of  the 
Congo  autocracy  are  accompanied  as  may  be  supposed  by 
circulars  from  the  subordinates  to  their  subordinates — the 
men  who  actually  get  the  revenue,  not  those  whose  task  it 
is  to  say  that  the  revenue  must  be  secured  ! Few  of  these 


* E.g.,  the  juice  of  the  vine  which,  coagulated,  produces 
rubber. 

= Vide  Section  III. 


36 


A Programme  in  Three  Parts 


documents  have  ever  seen  light.  Those  that  have  may  be 
taken  as  typical  samples.  Here  are  two  in  sequence  from 
the  higher  to  the  lower  rung  of  Congolese  hierarchy  : 

Acting  Governor-General  Felix  Fuchs  to  Commandant 
Verstraeten  in  charge  of  the  Rubi  Welle  zone  : 

“ I close  by  advising  you  that  the  Government  firmly  hopes 
that,  inspired  by  the  considerations  set  forth  in  the  present  com- 
munication, you  will  exhibit  a fresh  proof  of  your  activity  and 
devotion,  by  making  the  district  you  command  produce  the 
maximum  of  resources  which  can  be  drawn  from  it.”  ‘ 

Commandant  Verstraeten  to  the  Officials  in  charge  of 
the  Stations  of  the  Rubi  Welle  district  : 

“ I have  the  honour  to  inform  you  that  from  January  i,  1899, 
you  must  succeed  in  furnishing  4,000  kilos  of  rubber  every 
month.  To  this  effect  I give  you  carte  blanche.  You  have,  there- 
fore, two  months  in  which  to  work  your  people.  Employ 
gentleness  first,  and  if  they  persist  in  not  accepting  the  imposi- 
tion of  the  State  employ  force  of  arms.”  ® 

Here  are  extracts  from  another  : 

“ District  Commissioner  Jacques  to  the  Official  in  charge  of  the 
Station  of  Inoryo  : 

“ M.  le  Chef  de  Poste. — Decidedly  these  people  of  Inoryoarea 
bad  lot.  They  have  just  been  and  cut  some  rubber  vines  at  Huli. 
We  must  fight  them  until  their  absolute  submission  has  been 
obtained,  or  their  complete  extermination.”  3 

When  the  inevitable  results  of  such  appeals  to  pillage  by 
violence  attain  too  great  proportions,  we  get  a circular  of 
this  kind  : 

“Boma,  November  1893. 

“ Gentlemen,  — From  information  which  has  reached  the 
central  government  recently  it  appears  that  some  of  our  agents 
settle  palavers,  make  war  upon  the  natives,  burn  villages  with- 
out reporting  their  actions.  Others  who  have  gone  so  far  as  to 
carry  out  with  their  own  hands  summary  executions,  and  have 


* Official  shorthand  report,  Belgian  Parliamentary  debates, 
July,  1903. 

* Ibid. 

3 Official  shorthand  report,  Belgian  Parliamentary  debates, 
February  to  March,  1906. 

37 


Red  Rubber 


thus  become  assassins,  have  not  been  brought  before  any  tribunal 
or  court-martial.  Their  immediate  Chiefs  present  in  the  region, 
could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  facts  of  this  gravity,  and  have 
thus  assumed  serious  responsibility.  The  government  invites 
me  to  take  the  severest  measures  at  my  disposal  to  cause  these 
deplorable  abuses  which  sully  our  reputation  to  cease.  I need 
not  add  here  that  this  order  will  be  executed.  We  have  decrees 
and  regulations.  Each  person  must  conform  to  them.  If 
individual  caprice  was  to  substitute  itself  for  law,  we  should 
become  in  certain  parts  of  the  territory  more  savage  than  the 
natives  whom  we  have  to  lead  to  civilisation. 

“(Sgd.)  The  Governor-General  Wahis.’’* 

After  this  avowal,  we  observe  the  same  supreme  official 
and  King’s  “ mandatory  ” in  Africa  issuing  the  following 
instructions  to  the  District  Commissioner  of  Lake  Leopold 
II.  The  circular  is  dated  January  9,  1897.  It  reads: 
“ Where  the  natives  refuse  obstinately  to  work,  you  will 
compel  them  to  obey  by  taking  hostages.” 

“Work”  meaning  to  gather  rubber  for  King  Leopold 
and  his  financial  friends,  on  lines  laid  down  in  the  earlier 
regenerating  circulars.  It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  the 
taking  of  women  hostages  has,  since  that  circular,  become 
a recognised  feature  of  the  rubber  slave  trade.^ 

No  wonder  King  Leopold  suppressed  the  documentary 
evidence  of  his  own  Commission  of  Inquiry  last  year. 

By  these  measures  did  the  produce  of  the  Congo  Basin, 
“ lost  to  the  world,”  become  “ a source  of  prosperity  ” to 
the  native  collector  of  it ! Under  this  system  ,^13,715,664 
of  raw  produce  (85  per  cent,  rubber)  has  been  forced  out  of 
the  Congo  native  in  the  last  seven  years  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  Furnishers  of  untold  wealth  to  their  absentee 
landlord  in  Europe,  their  own  condition  has  steadily 
worsened.3  Deprived  of  everything,  and  compelled  to 


' Official  shorthand  report,  Belgian  Parliamentary  debates, 
March,  1905.  Compare  this  circular,  in  which  the  Governor- 
General  admits  that  the  Congo  officials  are  assassins,  with  the 
furious  denunciations  of  the  Press  Bureau  against  their  foreign 
accusers. 

“ See  Section  III. 

3 The  total  value  of  the  imports  in  that  period  only  amounted 
to  just  over  ;^6,ooo,ooo,  the  overwhelming  proportion  of  which 
was  composed  of  Government  material  and  stores. 

38 


A Programme  in  Three  Parts 

devote  their  lives  to  gathering  rubber  for  an  alien  potentate, 
who  claims  the  labour  of  Central  Africa  as  his  personal 
asset. 

Thus,  the  rubber  slave  trade  in  the  making.  We  shall 
follow  it  in  the  working.  We  shall  plunge  into  the 
equatorial  forest  and  see  how  the  rubber  is  acquired  under 
the  stimulus  of  force  and  bonuses.  We  shall  move  among 
the  natives  and  realise,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  at  a distance  of 
several  thousand  miles  from  the  scene  of  their  oppression, 
the  daily  effects  of  the  system  upon  them,  the  system  of 
“ moral  and  material  regeneration.”  And  after  inquiring 
whether  this  calculated  plunder  of  a Continent  possesses 
any  redeeming  feature  for  the  plundered  people,  we  shall 
pass  to  an  examination  of  the  revenues  derived  therefrom, 
the  amount  of  them,  and  the  manner  of  their  distribution. 


I 


39 


SECTION  If 


THE  DEEDS 


THE  DEEDS 


“ Auferre,  trucidare,  rapere  falsis  nominibus  imperium,  atque 
ubi  solitudinem  faciunt,  pacem  appellant  ” (Tacitus,  Agri- 
cola, cxxx). 

(“What  they,  by  a misuse  of  terms,  style  Government,  is  a 
system  of  pillage,  murder,  and  robbery,  and  their  so-called  peace 
is  a desert  of  their  own  creation.”) 

I reproduce  below  the  comments  upon  “Affairs  of  West 
Africa,”  published  in  1902,  in  which  book  four  chapters  were 
devoted  to  the  affairs  of  the  Congo,  because  they  are  typical 
of  the  difficulties  which  those  of  us  who  took  up  this  matter 
were  confronted,  difficulties  which  are  referred  to  in  the  opening 
chapter  of  the  present  volume. — Author. 

“ The  state  of  affairs  to  which  he  calls  attention  in  the  latter 
portion  of  the  book  is,  indeed,  so  terrible,  and  the  accusations 
which  he  does  not  hesitate  to  bring  personally  against  King 
Leopold  II.  are  so  grave  that,  notwithstanding  the  unfortunately 
too  general  apprehension  entertained  in  well-informed  West 
African  circles  that  there  exists  very  solid  ground  for  criticism, 
we  hesitate,  without  independent  investigation,  to  give  further 
currency  to  his  assertions.  . . . If  Mr,  Morel  is  accurately  informed 
there  is  hardly  a condition  of  its  (the  Congo  State’s)  charter  that 
it  has  not  broken,  nor  a law  of  common  humanity  which  it  has 
not  flouted.  The  sufferings  of  which  the  picture  was  given  to  the 
world  in  ‘Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin ’are  as  nothing  to  those  which 
Mr.  Morel  represents  to  be  the  habitual  accompaniment  of  the 
acquisition  of  rubber  and  ivory  by  the  Belgian  companies.” — The 
Times,  December  19,  1902. 

Sir  Harry  Johnston  in  the  Daily  Chronicle,  December  20,  1902  : 
“ Mr.  Morel’s  indictment  is  one  of  the  most  terrible  things  ever 
written,  if  true." 

Within  the  last  few  months  only  have  the  closest  students 
of  the  Congo  question  been  in  a position  to  appreciate  to 

43 


Red  Rubber 


the  full  the  staggering  volume  of  records  to  the  continuity 
and  uniformity  of  outrage,  and  the  all-pervading  cause 
OF  OUTRAGE,  on  the  Congo.  Many  of  the  data  here  sum- 
marised are  unknown  save  to  the  comparatively  few  persons 
who  are  subscribers  to  the  Congo  Reform  Association,  in 
whose  monthly  journal  they  have  been  recorded.  Others 
now  appear  for  the  first  time.  In  the  main  the  records 
here  given  are  but  the  briefest  and  baldest  summaries.  If 
the  whole  of  them  were  to  be  set  down,  a book  double  the 
size  of  the  present  one  would  hardly  suffice  to  contain  them. 
My  object — or  one  of  them — is  to  show  how  unbroken 
is  the  tale  of  horror,  how  dreadful  the  similarity.  We  see 
precisely  the  same  scenes  described  by  men  thousands  of 
miles  apart,  and  with  many  years’  interval  between  them. 


Records  from  1890  to  1893. 

Letter  from  Colonel  Williams,  read  out  to  a London 
meeting  by  Mr.  R.  Cobden  Phillips,  representing  the 
Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce,  on  November  4,  1890. 
(Extract.)  (Area  : presumably  upper  river  banks.) 

“ Your  Majesty’s  Government  has  been,  and  is  now,  guilty  of 
waging  unjust  and  cruel  wars  against  natives,  with  the  hope 
of  securing  slaves  and  women  to  minister  to  the  behests  of  your 
Majesty’s  Government.  In  such  slave-hunting  raids  one  village 
is  armed  against  the  other,  and  the  force  thus  secured  is  incor- 
porated with  the  regular  troops.” 

March^  1891. — Letters  from  correspondents  in  the  Congo 
read  out  to  Manchester  Geographical  Society  by  Mr.  E. 
Sowerbutts,  the  Secretary.  Letters  speak  of  atrocities  by 
Congolese  troops,  women  and  children  seized  as  prisoners,  &c., 
in  this  “ diabolical  and  unholy  so-called  civilising  work.” 
(Area  : probably  Cataract  region.) 

In  1891  the  secret  decree  appropriating  the  produce 
of  the  soil,  and  calling  upon  officials  to  devote  all  their 
energies  to  collecting  revenue,  is  issued,  together  with  the 
regulations  and  circulars  which  followed  it  (see  last  chapter). 
The  immediate  effects  of  the  regulations  and  circulars  are 
chronicled  in  letters  from  Belgian  and  French  traders  in 

44 


The  Deeds 


the  Upper  Congo.  Letters  dated  1891  and  1892.  Pub- 
lished for  the  first  time  in  1904.1  (Area:  river  banks  and 
central  region.) 

“Yambaya,  February  6,  1891. — The  country  is  ruined.  Pas- 
sengers in  the  steamer  Roi  des  Beiges  have  been  able  to  see  for 
themselves  that  from  Bontya,  half  a day’s  journey  below  our 
factory  at  Upoto,  to  Boumba  inclusive,  there  is  not  an  inhabited 
village  left — that  is  to  say  four  days’  steaming  through  a country 
formerly  so  rich  ; to-day  entirely  ruined.” 

"Gonga  Dona,  October  20th. — Thanks  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
State  w'e  cannot  travel  three  hours  in  a canoe  without  coming 
across  a hostile  village.  This  is  the  way  they  go  on.  They  go 
to  a village  and  say  to  the  Chief,  ‘ If  by  noon  three  tusks  of  ivory 
are  not  here  for  us  to  buy,  you  are  no  longer  our  friend.’  At 
noon  the  Chief  arrives  and  says,  ‘ I have  only  two,’  or  as  the  case 
may  be.  ‘ If  that  is  the  case,’  replies  the  representative  of  the 
State,  ‘ we  will  see.’  The  whole  party  then  springs  on  shore  and 
endeavours  to  make  prisoners.  'That  having  been  accomplished, 
the  Chief  is  told,  ‘ Come  with  so  many  tusks,  and  your  men  and 
women  will  be  returned  to  you.’  ” 

“ Basankusu,  September  17,  1892. — The  villages  are  compelled 
to  pay  heavy  taxes  in  rubber  ; they  are  compelled  to  furnish 
so  many  kilos  to  the  State  every  week.  To  give  you  an  idea,  the 
State  has  received  1,060  kilos  in  one  month  and  a half.  The 
State  had  made  war  upon  the  villages  from  Lulonga  to  Basan- 
kusu. All  the  villages  in  the  Maringa  suffered  the  same  fate.” 

“ Likini,  October  15//?. — After  the  wars  with  the  Mambatis  and 
the  Boucoundu,  when  the  State  people  took  many  prisoners,  which 
the  Mambatis  redeemed  with  ivory,  they  have  begun  the  same 
proceedings  again.  To  buy  ivory  in  this  way  does  not  need 
many  goods,  and  has  the  merit  of  simplicity.  Four  days  ago 
they  started  making  war  once  more ; thirteen  killed,  six 
prisoners.” 

“ October  18th. — The  frequent  wars  upon  the  natives  undertaken 
without  any  cause  by  the  State  soldiers  sent  out  to  get  rubber  and 
ivory  are  depopulating  the  country.  The  soldiers  find  that  the 
quickest  and  cheapest  method  is  to  raid  villages,  seize  prisoners, 
and  have  them  redeemed  afterwards  against  ivory.  At  Bou- 
coundje  they  took  thirty  prisoners,  whom  they  released  upon 
payment  of  ten  tusks.  Each  agent  of  the  State  receives  i,ooof. 
commission  per  ton  of  ivory  secured,  and  i75f.  per  ton  of 
rubber.” 

“Yambaya,  March  23,  1893. — The  majority  of  natives  in  every 
village  are  fleeing  to  the  forests  on  account  of  the  perpetual 
troubles  with  the  State.” 


‘ “ King  Leopold’s  Rule  in  Africa”  (4I  pages). 

4S 


Red  Rubber 


Such  was  the  immediate  result  of  the  official  instructions 
to  raid  ivory  and  rubber  on  commission  ; the  early  begin- 
nings of  the  system  which  was  to  prevail  for  fifteen  years, 
and  which  still  prevails. 

Records  from  1894  to  1898. 

Glave,  E.  J.  : an  independent  English  traveller,  formerly 
with  Stanley,  who  speaks  very  highly  of  him.  Crossed  the 
Congo  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  ocean  in  1894-5. 
riis  voluminous  diary  published  by  the  Century  Magazine 
in  1896.1  (Area  : the  whole  country  traversed.) 

“ The  white  officer  at  Kamambare  has  commissioned  several 
chiefs  to  make  raids  on  the  country  of  the  Warua  and  bring  him 
slaves.  They  are  supposed  to  be  taken  out  of  slavery  and  freed, 
but  I fail  to  see  how  this  can  be  argued  out.  They  are  taken 
from  their  villages  and  shipped  south  to  be  soldiers,  workers,  &c., 
on  the  stations,  and  what  were  peaceful  families  have  been 
broken  up  and  the  different  members  spread  about  the  place. 
This  is  no  reasonable  way  of  settling  the  land.  It  is  merely 
persecution.  . . . The  brutal  action  of  the  soldiers  so  terrified 
the  people  that  many  fled  into  hiding,  and  have  not  since 
returned.  . . . Not  content  with  this,  the  soldiers  steal  everything 
on  the  plantations  and  in  the  houses.  If  the  rightful  owners 
objecttheyarebeaten,  the  women  taken  by  force.  . . . In  stations 
in  charge  of  white  men.  Government  officer.s,  one  sees  strings 
of  poor,  emaciated  old  women,  some  of  them  mere  skeletons, 
working  from  ten  to  six  tramping  about  in  gangs  with  a rope 
round  their  necks  and  connected  by  a rope  one  and  a half  yards 
apart.  They  are  ‘ prisoners  of  war.’  . . . Expeditions  have  been 
sent  in  every  direction  forcing  natives  to  make  rubber  and  to 
bring  it  to  the  Stations.  Up  the  Ikelemba  away  to  Lake  Man- 
tumba,  the  State  is  perpetrating  its  fiendish  policy  in  order  to 
obtain  profit.  . . . War  has  been  waged  all  through  the  district 
of  the  Equator,  and  thousands  of  people  have  been  killed  and 
homes  destroyed.  . . . Many  women  and  children  were  taken, 
and  twenty-one  heads  were  brought  to  Stanley  Falls,  and  have 
been  used  by  Captain  Rom  as  a decoration  round  a flower-bed 
in  front  of  his  house.  . . . Most  white  officers  out  in  the  Congo 
are  averse  to  the  india-rubber  policy  of  the  State,  but  the  laws 
command  it.“  ...  If  the  Arabs  had  been  the  masters  it  would 
be  styled  iniquitous  trafficking  in  human  flesh  and  blood,  but 


‘ Vide  also  “Civilisation  in  Congoland,”  by  H.  R.  Fox  Bourne. 
® Vide  circulars  and  regulations  in  last  chapter. 

46 


The  Deeds 


being  under  the  administration  of  the  Congo  Free  State,  it  is 
merely  a part  of  their  philanthropic  system  of  liberating  the 
natives.” 

SjOblom,  a Swedish  missionary  of  the  American  Baptist 
Missionary  Union.  In  conjunction  with  an  Englishman 
in  the  same  Mission,  Banks,  Sjdblom  had  complained  with 
great  vehemence  locally,  and  caused  furious  resentment 
to  the  Governor-General,  Baron  Wahis,  who  threatened 
him  with  five  years’  imprisonment.  Through  the  inter- 
mediary of  Mr.  Fox  Bourne  he  appealed  to  the  world  at  a 
public  meeting  in  London  (May  12,  1897).  His  experiences 
cover  1895-7.  (Area:  central  region.)  The  following 
are  extracts  from  his  statements  : 

“ The  natives  in  inland  towns  are,  as  a matter  of  custom,  asked 
whether  they  are  willing  to  gather  india-rubber.  The  question 
put  to  them  is  not  ‘ Will  you  live  at  peace  together  ? Will  you 
acknowledge  the  Congo  Government  ? ’ It  is,  ‘ Will  you  work 
india-rubber  ? ’ Well,  many  of  the  people  are  killed,  and  they 
try  suddenly  to  disband,  and  refuse  to  bring  the  india-rubber. 
Then  war  is  declared."  Describes  the  usual  procedure  adopted. 
Within  his  knowledge  towns  have  been  burnt  down.  De- 
scribes the  sentry-system,  the  soldiers  stationed  in  the  villages, 
living  on  the  people,  and  driving  the  adult  males  into  the  forest 
to  gather  india-rubber.  Narrates  how  he  visited  a village  at 
sunset.  The  people  had  never  seen  a white  man  and  had 
returned  from  their  hunt  for  rubber.  As  he  was  speaking  to 
them,  a soldier  rushed  in  among  the  crowd,  and  seized  an  old 
man  guilty  of  having  been  fishing  in  the  river  instead  of  gathering 
rubber ; shoots  him  before  Sjoblom’s  eyes.  Right  hand  cut  off. 
People  flee  out  of  the  town.  “All  except  the  old  chiefs  are 
forced  to  go  away  and  work  rubber.”  The  sentries  are  “ from  the 
wildest  tribes.”  “ When  they  get  to  this  work  they  are  many  times 
worse.  They  are  really  small  kings  in  the  towns  and  often  kill 
the  people  for  the  sake  of  the  rubber.  If  the  rubber  does  not 
reach  the  full  amount  required  the  sentries  attack  the  natives. 
They  kill  some  and  bring  the  hands  to  the  Commissioner.  Others 
are  brought  to  the  Commissioner  as  prisoners.  Hundreds  are 
constantly  taken  down  in  large  steamers.”  . “ From  this 

village  I went  on  to  another  where  I met  a soldier  who  pointed 
to  a basket,  and  said  to  me,  ‘ Look,  I have  only  two  hands.’  He 
meant  there  were  not  enough  to  make  up  for  the  rubber  he  had 
not  brought.’  He  had  several  prisoners  tied  to  trees.  When  I 


’ Vide  Africa  No.  i,  1904.  Every  cartridge  expended  required 
a right  hand  asl  tally. 

47 


Red  Rubber 


came  back,  some  of  the  villages  were  in  an  uproar.  . . . When 
I reached  the  river  I turned  and  saw  that  the  people  had  large 
hammocks  in  which  they  were  gathering  the  rubber  to  be  taken 
to  the  Commissioner.  I also  saw  smoked  hands,  and  the 
prisoners  waiting  to  be  taken  to  the  Commissioner.  This  is  only 
one  of  the  places  in  which  these  practices  occur.  There  is  a 
small  island  in  a stream  at  Lake  Mantumba.'  The  people  had 
not  been  able  to  bring  in  the  full  amount  of  rubber.  The  officers 
with  some  soldiers  went  along  there.  Several  of  the  natives  were 
killed.  I saw  the  dead  bodies  floating  on  the  lake  with  the  right 
hand  cut  off,  and  the  officer  told  me  when  I came  back  why  they 
had  been  killed.  It  was  for  the  rubber.  In  fact  the  officers 
have  always  freely  told  me  about  the  many  who  were  killed,  and 
always  in  connection  with  india-rubber.  ...  In  one  village 
which  I passed  through,  I saw  two  or  three  men  on  the  wayside 
quite  recently  killed — about  an  hour  before.  The  sentry  who 
had  to  oversee  the  gathering  of  the  rubber  told  me  they  had 
killed  the  men  because  they  had  not  brought  in  the  rubber. 
When  I crossed  the  stream  I saw  some  dead  bodies  hanging 
down  from  the  branches  in  the  water.  As  I turned  away 
my  face  at  the  horrible  sight  one  of  the  native  corporals 
who  was  following  us  down  said,  ‘ Oh,  that  is  nothing,  a few 
days  ago  I returned  from  a fight,  and  I brought  the  white 
man  160  hands  and  they  were  thrown  into  the  river.’  . . . 
‘ I have  seen  extracts  of  letters  in  which  the  writers  have  freely 
told  about  hundreds  being  killed,  hundreds  of  hands  brought  by 
the  sentries,  hundreds  of  slaves  being  taken,  and  one  of  the 
State  officials  said  to  a resident  agent,  ‘ I have  two  hundred  slaves 
here.  Do  you  want  some  ? ’ Another  agent  told  me  that  he  had 
himself  seen  a State  officer  at  one  of  the  outposts  pay  a certain 
number  of  brass  rods  (local  currency)  to  the  soldiers  for  a 
number  of  hands  they  had  brought.  One  of  the  soldiers  told 
me  the  same.  That  was  about  the  time  I saw  the  native  killed 
before  my  own  eyes.  The  soldier  said,  ‘ Don’t  take  this  to  heart 
so  much.  They  kill  us  if  we  don’t  bring  the  rubber.  The  Com- 
missioner has  promised  us  if  we  have  plenty  of  hands  he  will 
shorten  our  service.  I have  brought  in  plenty  of  hands  already, 
and  I expect  my  time  of  service  will  soon  be  finished.’”  Mr. 
Sjoblom  also  gave  many  particulars  of  the  monstrous  demands 
for  food,  fish,  &c.,  upon  the  people  ; the  fines  inflicted  upon  them 
for  shortage,  their  general  condition  of  impoverishment,  &c. 

Campbell,  Dugald,  a missionary  belonging,  I believe,  to 
a Scotch  Presbyterian  Mission.  Has  laboured  for  about  a 
quarter  of  a century  in  the  south-eastern  portion  of  the 
State  (Katanga).  His  voluminous  reports  to  Mr.  Fox 


‘ Doniaine  de  la  Couronne.  Vide  Section  IV. 

48 


The  Deeds 


Bourne  cover  a very  extensive  period.  Those  I am  about 
to  quote  cover  the  period  1891  to  1898.  Published  in 
1904.  (Area:  south-eastern  region.) 

Mr.  Campbell  sub-sectionalises  his  report  into  the  “ Ivory 
rigime^'  the  “Rubber  rigtme^'  “Treatment  of  Natives,” 
the  “ Sentry  system,”  etc.  Under  “ T reatment  of  Natives  ” 
he  writes : — 

“ This  is,  and  ever  has  been,  shocking,  and  the  cause  of  revolts, 
troubles,  and  when  possible,  exodus  into  the  territories  of  other 
Powers.  The  treatment  of  the  down-trodden  natives  since  State 
occupation  has  brought  about  a moral  and  material  degenera- 
tion. Through  the  gross  and  wholesale  immorality,  and  forcing 
of  women  and  girls  into  lives  of  shame,  African  family  life  and 
its  sanctities  have  been  violated,  and  the  seeds  of  disease  sown 
broadcast  over  the  Congo  State  are  producing  their  harvest 
already.  Formerly  native  conditions  put  restrictions  on  the 
spread  of  disease,  and  localised  it  to  small  areas.  But  the 
17,000  soldiers,  moved  hither  and  thither  to  districts  removed 
from  their  wives  and  relations  to  suit  Congo  policy,  must  have 
women  wherever  they  go,  and  these  must  be  provided  from  the 
district  natives.  . . . Native  institutions,  rights,  and  customs, 
which  one  would  think  ought  to  be  the  basis  of  good  govern- 
ment, are  ignored.” 

Among  the  incidents  he  gives  characterising  the  “ Ivory 
regime^’’  I quote  the  following  : — 

“After  that  Katoro,  another  very  large  chief  living  near  the 
apex  of  the  western  and  eastern  Lualaba,  was  attacked.  The 
crowds  were  fired  into  promiscuously,  and  fifteen  were  killed, 
including  four  women  and  a babe  on  its  mother’s  breast.  The 
heads  were  cut  off  and  brought  to  the  officer  in  charge,  who  then 
sent  men  to  cut  off  the  hands  also,  and  these  were  pierced, 
strung,  and  dried  over  the  camp  fire.  The  heads,  with  many 
others,  I saw  myself.  The  town,  prosperous  once,  was  burnt, 
and  what  they  could  not  carry  off  was  destroyed.  Crowds  of 
people  were  caught,  mostly  old  women  and  young  women,  and 
three  fresh  rope  gangs  were  added.  These  poor  ‘ prisoner ' 
gangs  were  mere  skeletons  of  skin  and  bone,  and  their  bodies 
cut  frightfully  with  the  chicotte  when  I saw  them.  Chiyombo’s 
very  large  town  was  next  attacked.  A lot  of  people  were  killed, 
and  heads  and  hands  cut  off  and  taken  back  to  the  officers.  . . . 
Shortly  after  the  State  caravans,  with  flags  flying  and  bugles 
blowing,  entered  the  mission  station  at  Luanza,  on  Lake  Mweru, 
where  1 was  then  alone,  and  I shall  not  soon  forget  the  sickening 
sight  of  deep  baskets  of  human  heads.  These  baskets  of  ‘ war 

49  5 


Red  Rubber 


trophies  ’ were  used  . . . for  a big  war-dance,  to  which  was  added 
the  State  quota  of  powder  and  percussion-caps.  ...  I made  a 
journey  myself  to  the  copper  hills  in  the  west,  to  the  caves,  to 
Ntenke’s,  Katanga’s,  Makaka’s,  and  Kateke’s,  all  in  South  Lamba, 
and  found  the  sentries  everywhere  living  like  kings,  plundering, 
killing,  and  burning  villages  in  the  name  of  the  State.  I append 
a list  of  the  villages  and  chiefs  at  ‘Sentry  Posts’  known  to  me, 
and  each  manned  by  two  black  soldiers.  [Here  follow  twenty 
villages,  with  their  localities,  etc.]  Each  of  these  posts  was 
manned,  as  stated,  by  two  black  soldiers  to  look  after  State 
interests,  chiefs,  and  ivory.  . . . Perhaps  you  will  say,  ‘ Why  did 
you  not  speak  out  and  report  all  this  ? ’ My  first  experience  in 
Katanga  was  Captain  X’s  threat  to  imprison  my  colleague  for 
denouncing  these  doings.  Every  time  1 made  representations 
they  were  declared  impossible,  or  the  answer  was,  ‘ I will  ask 
my  head  sentry  to  make  inquiries,’  the  head  sentry  being  one  of 
the  worst  blac^uards  in  the  country.  Nothing  was  ever  proved. 
He  would  not  believe  his  soldiers  could  be  guilty  of  such  miscon- 
duct, or,  ‘Well,  they  must  have  carle  blanche,  or  the  natives 
would  not  respect  the  State.’  Sometimes  ‘ Might  is  right,’  would 
be  the  curt  reply.  What  could  one  say  ? There  were  no  judges 
or  courts  of  appeal,  and  the  officer,  often  at  his  wits’  end,  would 
say,  ‘ What  can  I do  ? I must  get  ivory.  I have  no  law  or 
regulation  book.  I am  the  only  law  and  only  God  in  Katanga.’  ” 

Under  the  “Rubber  regime"  similar  stories  are  given, 
always  with  an  abundance  of  names,  places,  etc. 

Here  are  a few  short  extracts  : — 

“Meanwhile,  on  the  Luapula  similar  abuses  existed,  and 
women  were  raped  and  made  to  serve  both  white  and  black, 
until  many  of  the  best  and  biggest  villages  crossed  into  British 
territory,  where  they  live  in  peace.  [Follows  a long  list  of  the 
villages  which  have  migrated.]  The  wholesale  exodus  is  due 
to  Belgian  raiding,  the  sentry  system,  and  the  maltreatment  of 
the  natives.” 

Under  the  “Sentry  system  ” Mr.  Campbell  says  : — 

“ I have  known  them  tie  up  chiefs  for  a week  in  ropes,  and 
keep  them  tied  until  a sufficient  ransom  was  brought.  ...  I 
have  met  them  on  the  road  on  plundering  expeditions,  travelling 
in  hammocks  with  from  twenty  to  thirty  carriers — these,  of 
course,  impressed  into  the  work — besides  other  carriers  who 
carried  their  pots,  cloth,  provisions,  and  guns  wherever  they 
went.  ...  It  was  a common  practice  to  remove  sentries  who 
were  unsuccessful  in  securing  sufficient  ivory  and  to  replace 
them  by  others  more  ruffianly  disposed,  whose  ivory-extorting 
powers  had  been  previously  tested.” 

50 


The  Deeds 


Banks,  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 
reporting  locally  from  Bolengi  in  1896  (Area:  central 
region)  : — 

Describes  raid  of  State  troops  upon  the  villages  of  Bandaka 
Wajiko.  Cause,  poor  quality  of  rubber.  Questions  soldiers, 
and  is  told  fifty  people  have  been  killed  and  twenty-eight  taken 
prisoners.  Sees  the  prisoners  taken  through  the  mission  station. 
Counts  “ sixteen  women  tied  neck  to  neck.”  Some  of  these 
women  carrying  their  tiny  children.  Several  “ young  children 
were  walking  on  before  who  were  also  prisoners.”  Visits  the 
raided  village.  “In  a little  shed  lay  one  of  my  late  school 
children,  a promising  young  lad.  I lifted  the  leaves  by  which 
he  was  covered,  and  saw  his  right  hand  cut  off.  I then  went 
through  the  village  and  saw  the  people  burying  their  dead.  I 
counted  over  twenty  bodies  and  newly  filled-up  graves.  All  the 
bodies  had  the  right  hand  cut  off.” 

Kenred  Smith,  of  the  British  Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
testified  before  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  in  1904,  as  to 
atrocities  committed  in  1893.  Extract  from  letter  to  the 
Author  ; published  this  year  in  C.  R.  A.  organ.  (Area  : 
central  region.) 

“ I thought  that  all  evidence  submitted  to  the  members  of  the 
Commission  would  be  given  in  due  course  to  the  public,  and  was 
not,  therefore,  too  careful  in  making  manuscript  notes  of  my 
remarks  before  it.  Happily  I have  notes.  I submitted  them  to 
them  and  now  send  you  the  substance  of  my  remarks.”  Details. 
Expedition  sent  on  June  2,  1898,  by  local  agent  of  the  Anversoise, 
{vide  Section  IV.),  to  punish  people  who  sought  to  escape  the 
rubber  “tax.”  Villages  of  Mika  and  Bosomakuma  attacked. 
Men,  women  and  children  killed  and  mutilated.  Village  of 
Bosolo  then  attacked  and  became,  according  to  native  evidence, 
“a  veritable  shambles.”  Visited  Mika,  and  “saw  mutilated  bodies 
or  parts  of  bodies  representing  some  twenty  people,  and  new- 
made  graves  bringing  up  the  number  to  at  least  thirty.”  Native 
evidence  placed  before  him  showed  two  hundred  people  killed. 
“ A cannibal  feast  followed  the  slaughter.”  Complained  locally. 
So  far  as  he  knows  no  action  taken. 

Clark,  Joseph,  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary 
Union.  Extracts  from  his  diary,  personal  correspondence, 
and  reports  to  local  officials  from  1894  to  1899.  The 
complete  documents  were  handed  to  the  Congo  Commission 
in  1904,  and  suppressed  together  with  all  other  documentary 
evidence  brought  home  by  that  Commission.  They  are 

51 


Red  Rubber 


now  made  public  for  the  first  time  here,  with  Dr.  Barbour’s 
permission.  The  area  from  which  Mr.  Clark  writes  is  the 
Domaine  de  la  Couronne^  and  this  account,  together  with  Mr . 
Scrivener’s,  which  will  be  referred  to  later,  will  show  an 
appreciative  Public  how  the  regenerator  of  Africa  obtains 
his  revenues ! 

Ikoko  [Clark’s  mission  station]  represented  in  diary  and  letters 
in  1893,  as  a large  town  “ beautifully  situated  in  a bay  with,  say, 
four  thousand  people  within  a radius  of  miles  from  the  mission 
station.”  The  people  are  “fine  looking,  bold  and  active.”  In 
1894  the  district  first  came  under  the  influence  of  the  philan- 
thropic monarch  Leopold  II.  Large  demands  for  rubber 
principally  are  made ; also  for  fish  and  forced  labour  for  the 
State  plantations  at  Bikoro.  Outrages  commence. 

“November  15,  1894. — Seven  Irebus  were  foully  murdered 
about  half  an  hour  from  here.  They  had  been  tied  and  brutally 
shot  when  unable  to  move  away  from  their  murderers.  . . . My 
only  hope  under  present  rule  is  for  us  to  try  to  put  the  informa- 
tion into  the  hands  of  the  American  Ambassador,  and  try  to  get 
him  to  personally  lay  the  reports  before  Leopold  II.  I do  not 
think  he  can  know  of  what  is  being  done  in  his  name.”  (To  a 
correspondent.) 

“November  28th. — The  State  soldiers  brought  in  seven  hands 
and  reported  having  shot  the  people  in  the  act  of  running  away 
to  the  French  side.”  (To  a correspondent  in  Scotland.) 

“December  8ih. — A year  ago  we  passed  or  visited  between 
Irebu  and  Ikoko  the  following  villages.  [Here  follow  the  names 
of  eight  villages  with  “ probable  population”  of  each;  total  3,180.] 
A week  ago  I went  up,  and  only  at  Ngero  (one  of  the  villages  in 
the  list)  were  there  any  people ; there  we  found  ten.”  (To  a 
correspondent.) 

“April  12,  1895. — I am  sorry  that  rubber  palavers  continue. 
Every  week  we  hear  of  some  fighting,  and  there  are  frequent 
‘ rows  ’ even  in  our  village  with  the  armed  and  unruly  soldiers. 
During  the  past  twelve  months  it  has  cost  more  lives  than  native 
wars  and  superstitions  would  have  sacrificed  in  three  to  five 
years.  The  people  make  this  comparison  among  themselves. 
It  seems  incredible  and  awful  to  think  of  these  savage  men 
armed  with  rifles  and  let  loose  to  hunt  and  kill  people,  because 
they  do  not  get  rubber  to  sell  at  a mere  nothing  to  the  State,  and 
it  is  blood-curdling  to  see  them  returning  with  hands  of  the 
slain,  and  to  find  the  hands  of  young  children  amongst  bigger 
ones  evidencing  their  bravery.”  (To  a correspondent.) 

“May  3rd.— The  war  was  on  account  of  the  rubber.  The 
State  demands  that  the  natives  shall  make  rubber,  and  sell  same 

52 


The  Deeds 


to  its  agents  at  a very  low  price.  The  natives  do  not  like  it.  It 
is  hard  work  and  very  poor  pay,  and  takes  them  away  from  their 
homes  into  the  forest  where  they  feel  very  unsafe,  as  there  are 
always  feuds  among  them.  The  rubber  from  this  district  has 
cost  hundreds  of  lives,  and  the  scenes  I have  witnessed  while 
unable  to  help  the  oppressed  have  been  almost  enough  to  make 
me  wish  I were  dead.  The  soldiers  are  themselves  savages, 
some  even  cannibals,  trained  to  use  rifles,  and  in  many  cases 
they  are  sent  away  without  any  supervision,  and  they  do  as  they 
please.  When  they  come  to  a town  no  man’s  property  or  wife  is 
safe,  and  when  they  are  at  war  they  are  like  devils.  Imagine 
them  returning  from  fighting  some  rebels  (?)  see  on  the  bow  of  the 
canoe  is  a pole,  and  a bundle  of  something  on  it.  These  are  the 
hands  (right  hands)  of  sixteen  warriors  they  have  slain. 

‘ Warriors  ! ’ Dont  you  see  among  them  the  hands  of  little 
children  and  girls  ? I have  seen  them.  I have  seen  where  the 
trophy  has  been  cut  off,  while  the  poor  heart  beat  strongly 
enough  to  shoot  the  blood  from  the  cut  arteries  at  a distance  of 
fully  four  feet.”  (To  a correspondent  in  America.) 

“May. — All  the  fighting  about  us  on  the  Lake  for  say  eight 
months  has  been  on  account  of  the  rubber.”  (To  a correspondent 
in  America). 

“May  i^th. — Nearly  all  Ikoko  is  in  the  bush— this  everlasting 
rubber  palaver  is  sending  lots  into  eternity,  and  many  to  live  like 
wild  beasts  in  the  woods,  where  they  are  afraid  to  make  a fire 
for  fear  of  attracting  the  man-hunters”  {i.e.,  the  soldiers).  (To 
a correspondent.) 

“ May  2Sih. — Kindly  let  me  appeal  to  you  again  on  behalf  of 
Ikoko  that  the  tax  of  rubber  may  be  taken  off.”  (To  Commissaire 
Fievez).' 

“June  5,  1895. — There  is  a matter  I want  to  report  to  you 
regarding  the  Nkake  sentries.  You  remember  some  time  ago 
they  took  eleven  canoes  and  shot  some  Ikoko  people.  As  a proof 
they  went  to  you  with  some  hands,  of  which  three  were  the 
hands  of  little  children.  We  heard  from  one  of  their  paddlers 
that  one  child  was  not  dead  when  its  hand  was  cut  off,  but  did 
not  believe  the  story.  Three  days  after  we  were  told  that  the 
child  was  still  alive  in  the  bush.  I sent  four  of  my  men  to  see, 
and  they  brought  back  a little  girl  whose  right  hand  had  been 
cut  off,  and  she  left  to  die  of  the  wound.  There  was  no  other 
wound.  As  I was  going  to  see  Dr.  Reussens  about  my  own  sick- 


' In  the  Official  Bulletin  for  June,  1896,  there  is  an  eulogistic 
report  on  the  admirable  assiduity  of  this  official  in  obtaining 
rubber.  It  tells  us  that  the  district  under  his  administration 
produced  in  1895  “ 650  tons  of  rubber  bought  at  2^d. — European 
price — and  sold  at  5s.  5d.  per  kilo  in  Antwerp  1” 

53 


Red  Rubber 


ness,  I took  the  child  to  him  and  he  has  cut  the  arm  and  made  it 
right,  and  I think  she  will  live.  But  I think  such  awful  cruelty 
should  be  punished.”  (To  M.  Mueller,  Chef  de  district,  Bikoro). 

"yuiie  ^th. — How  many  people  have  been  slain  for  the  sake  of 
rubber  I cannot  tell,  but  the  number  is  large.”  (To  a correspon- 
dent.) 

“March  25,  1896. — This  rubber  traffic  is  steeped  in  blood,  and 
if  the  natives  were  to  rise  and  sweep  every  white  person  on  the 
Upper  Congo  into  eternity  there  would  still  be  left  a fearful 
balance  to  their  credit.  Is  it  not  possible  for  some  American  of 
influence  to  see  the  King  of  the  Belgians  and  let  him  know  what 
is  being  done  in  his  name  ? The  Lake  is  reserved  for  the  King — 
no  traders  allowed — and  to  collect  rubber  for  him  hundreds  of  men, 
women,  and  children  have  been  shot."  (To  a correspondent.) 

The  Congo  “Government”  in  Brussels — e.g..,  the  King — 
denied  the  existence  of  this  royal  preserve — until  1902  ! 
The  proceeds  are  handled  by  the  King  exclusively,  and  are 
not  paid  into  the  so-called  public  revenues  of  the  Congo 
State.  Vide  Section  IV.  The  exasperated  natives  turn 
upon  their  destroyers. 

“April  15//?. — Two  white  men  and  about  fifty  soldiers  killed  by 
the  Montaka  natives  on  the  Lake.  Ikoko  and  Ngero  are  the  only 
important  villages  not  in  arms — all  caused  through  the  rubber 
demand  and  mode  of  operation.”  (To  a correspondent.) 

“Nov.  2,  1898. — Some  fighting  in  Ikoko  two  weeks  ago.  Two 
old  men,  one  old  woman,  one  girl,  and  two  children  killed.  The 
old  woman’s  hand  was  cut  om  I saw  the  body.  One  child  of 
about  two  and  a half  or  three  years  of  age  had  been  struck  over 
the  stomach  with  the  butt  of  a gun,  and  then  thrown  into  the 
water,  and  a younger  child  had  been  no  doubt  treated  in  the  same 
way,  but  its  body  was  not  found.  A young  girl  (about  ten)  was 
with  them,  and  she  had  been  beaten  and  thrown  into  the  water 
and  died.  The  woman  had  been  stabbed  after  being  taken 
prisoner — the  old  woman  was  shot.”  (To  a correspondent.) 

We  have  seen  that  in  1893  ^ population  of 

4,000  souls.  I complete  these  particular  extracts  with  the 
following  appeal  to  Lieutenant  Dubreucq,  Commissaire, 
dated  May  5,  1899  : — 

“ I desire  to  pray  you  that  some  alteration  be  made  in  the 
present  State  demands  on  Ikoko,  or  before  long  there  will  be  no 
people  here  but  those  attached  to  the  mission.  . . . Now  probably 
there  are  not  over  six  hundred  of  all  ages  of  people  in  the  town 
and  fishing  camps.  There  is  not  one  native  chief  of  influence. 

54 


The  Deeds 


While  I have  been  here  there  have  been  four  chiefs  of  consider- 
able ‘ force,’  but  two  of  them  were  shot,  and  the  other  two  were 
several  times  in  the  chain,  and  at  last  died  in  the  town  here.  At 
present  the  death  rate  is  very  great  because  the  people  are  badly 
nourished.” 

Such  is  the  story  of  Ikoko  and  neighbourhood. 

Weeks,  John,  of  the  British  Baptist  Missionary  Society. 
Extract  from  a Report  to  the  District  Commissioner  of  the 
Bangala  region,  dated  Monsembe,  November  6,  1897, 
handed  to  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  in  January,  1905  ; 
published  in  full  in  the  C.  R.  A.  organ  for  July,  1905. 
(Area;  river  banks  and  central  region.) 

" Last  year  the  country  all  about  here  was  flooded,  yet  you 
levied  your  cassava  tax  month  after  month  upon  the  people,  in 
addition  to  your  oil,  fowls,  and  goat  tax,  etc.  The  people  here 
had  not  enough  to  eat,  and  as  their  cassava  was  destroyed  by  the 
flood,  they  had  to  buy  it  at  an  exorbitant  price  from  more 
fortunate  districts.  This  year  again  the  country  is  flooded  and 
the  farms  spoilt,  but  I suppose  you  will  enforce  the  cassava  tax, 
and  the  people  have  to  starve  again  ; and  why  ? To  feed  and 
strengthen  the  State  soldiers,  to  raid  them  again  in  their  weak- 
ness ! You  take  away  the  sturdy  young  men,  leaving  only  the 
old  people  and  children,  so  that  every  steamer  that  stays  here 
loots  the  town,  because  the  proper  defenders  have  been  taken  off 
by  the  State.” 

Mr.  Weeks,  reporting  to  the  District  Commissioner  and 
to  the  Governor-General  in  June,  1903,  deals  with  the 
depopulation  of  the  country  since  1890.  His  full  letter  is 
published  in  the  IVest  African  Mail^  October,  1903.  It 
covers  thirteen  years. 

“ It  distresses  me  very  much  to  see  and  hear  that  this  town, 
and  others  of  this  and  neighbouring  districts,  are  in  a more 
deplorable  state  than  they  were  two  years  ago  (when  Mr.  Weeks 
returned  to  Europe  on  furlough).  When  we  came  to  settle  in 
Mojisembe,  in  1890,  there  were  over  7,000  people  between  here 
and  Bokongo.  In  1900  there  were  very  few  over  3,000,  and  now 
there  are  not  many  over  1,000.  If  the  decrease  continues  at  the 
same  rate,  in  another  five  years  there  will  be  no  people  left.” 
Proceeds  to  set  forth  the  causes.  Continual  deportation  of 
young  men  to  serve  as  soldiers  and  workmen,  and  of  young 
women  for  other  purposes.  Demand  for  men  levied  without 
“ any  regard  to  population.”  Flight  to  get  away  from  oppressive 
taxation.  Sleeping  sickness ; thinks  that  this  disease  “ would 

55 


Red  Rubber 


never  have  taken  such  a hold  upon  the  people  if  they  had  not 
had  their  spirit  crushed  out  of  them  by  an  ever-increasing  burden 
of  taxation.”  Taxation  in  food  stuffs  becoming  heavier  and 
heavier.  Imposition  of  fines  “sapping  the  life  of  the  people.” 
“ Heartrending  to  compare  this  district  now  with  what  it  was 
in  1890.” 

In  letters  to  friends  in  England,  dated  June  and  July, 
1903 

" I say,  without  any  fear  of  contradiction,  that  the  condition  of 
the  people  is,  to  put  it  mildly,  one  hundred  per  cent,  worse  than 
in  1893.”  . . . “The  entire  population  of  the  district  is  now 
9,400,  and  quite  half  has  recently  been  driven  from  the  bush  to 
the  river  to  repopulate  its  banks.  Stanley,  in  1885,  reckoned  this 
same  district  at  80,000  people.  In  1890  Mr.  Stapleton  and 
myself,  in  search  of  a site,  landed  at  a very  large  number  of 
towns,  and  concluded  that  the  figures  of  1885  were  too  high, 
and  put  the  population  down  at  50,000.  The  population  has 
dropped  in  13  years  from  50,000  to  under  5,000.  . . . This  is 
not  the  only  district  which  has  gone  down  in  population. 
Starting  from  Stanley  Pool,  Bwembe,  has  about  100  for  every 
1,000  it  once  had  ; Bolobo  has  not  a third  of  its  former  popula- 
tion. . . .”  (Here  follows  an  enumeration  of  towns  with  their 
old,  and  former  population.) 

Morrison,  William,  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Mission.  Reports  outrages  in  the  Kasai  district, 

beginning  in  1898.  They  are  given  in  the  next 
record. 

Murphy,  of  the  American  Baptist  Union.  Describes  in 
Times  of  1895  the  raids  and  atrocities  carried  on  by  Congo 
troops  in  his  district  from  1893-5.  “The  hands — the 
hands  of  men,  women,  and  children — were  placed  in  rows 
before  the  Commissaire^  who  counted  them  to -see  that  the 
natives  had  not  wasted  cartridges.”  Area : Domaine  de  la 
Couronne  (Lake  Mantumba). 

Casement,  Roger,  British  Consul  in  the  Congo.  It  is 
difficult  to  dissect,  from  the  point  of  view  of  time,  the  long 
and  detailed  disclosures  of  Consul  Casement,  which  dis- 
closures cover  the  past  as  well  as  dealing  with  the  present. 
But  here  and  there  are  passages  which  can  be  selected  as 
showing  how  the  present  day  situation  is  the  outcome  of 
long  years  of  oppression.  Consul  Casement’s  Report  was 
published  in  1904.  (Area  : Domaine  de  la  Couronne.) 

56 


The  Deeds 


“ The  population  of  the  Lake-side  towns  would  seem  to  have 
diminished  within  the  last  ten  years  by  6o  to  70  per  cent.  It 
was  in  1893  that  an  effort  to  levy  an  india-rubber  imposition  in 
this  district  was  begun,  and  for  some  four  or  five  years  this 
imposition  could  only  be  collected  at  the  cost  of  continual 
fighting." 

Area  : river  banks. 

“ The  station  at  Bikoro  has  been  established  as  a Government 
plantation  for  about  ten  years.  It  stands  on  the  actual  site  of 
the  former  native  town  of  Bikoro,  an  important  settlement  in 
1893,  now  reduced  to  a handful  of  ill-kept,  untidy  huts,  inhabited 
by  only  a remnant  of  its  former  expropriated  population.” 

“ We  touched  at  several  points  on  the  French  shore,  and  on 
the  25th  July  reached  Lukolela,  where  I spent  two  days.  This 
district  had,  when  I visited  it  in  1887,  numbered  fully  5,000 
people  ; to-day  the  population  is  given,  after  careful  enumeration, 
at  less  than  600. 

“ Bolobo  used  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  native  settle- 
ments along  the  south  bank  of  the  Upper  Congo,  and  the 
population  in  the  early  days  of  civilised  rule  numbered  fully 
40,000  people,  chiefly  of  the  Bobangi  tribe.  To-day  the  popu- 
lation is  believed  to  be  not  more  than  7,000  or  8,000  souls.  The 
Bolobo  men  were  famous  in  former  days  for  their  voyages  to 
Stanley  Pool  and  their  keen  trading  ability.  All  of  their  large 
canoes  have  to-day  disappeared,  and  while  some  of  them  still 
hunt  hippopotami — which  are  still  numerous  in  the  adjacent 
waters — I did  not  observe  anything  like  industry  among  them. 
Indeed,  it  would  be  hard  to  say  how  the  people  now  live  . . ." 

“ Perhaps  the  most  striking  change  observed  during  my  journey 
into  the  interior  was  the  great  reduction  observable  everywhere 
in  native  life.  Communities  I had  formerly  known  as  large  and 
flourishing  centres  of  population  are  to-day  entirely  gone,  or  now 
exist  in  such  diminished  numbers  as  to  be  no  longer  recognisable. 
The  southern  shores  of  Stanley  Pool  had  formerly  a population 
of  fully  5,000  Batekas.  These  people  some  twelve  years  ago 
decided  to  abandon  their  homes,  and  in  one  night  the  great 
majority  of  them  crossed  over  into  French  territory.  Where 
formerly  had  stretched  these  populous  native  African  villages, 
I saw  to-day  only  a few  scattered  European  houses.  In  Leopold- 
ville there  are  not,  I should  estimate,  one  hundred  of  the  original 
natives  or  their  descendants  now  residing.” 

Area  ; Domaine  de  la  Couronne.  In  the  notes  to  his  report 
Consul  Casement  gives  details  of  native  evidence  showing 
how  the  “ Lake-side  ” people  were  extirpated  : — 

“ I decided  to  visit  the  nearest  settlement  of  these  fugitives,  I 

57 


Red  Rubber 


asked  first  why  they  had  left  their  homes  and  had  come  to  live  in 
a strange,  far-off  country  where  they  owned  nothing  and  were 
little  better  than  servitors.  All,  when  the  question  was  put, 
women  as  well  as  men,  shouted  out,  ‘ On  account  of  the  rubber 
tax  levied  by  the  Government  Posts.’  ...  I asked  them  how  this 
tax  was  imposed.  . . . ‘ From  our  country  each  village  had  to 
take  twenty  loads  of  rubber.  These  loads  were  big  ; they  were 
as  big  as  this  (producing  an  empty  basket  which  came  nearly  up 
to  the  handle  of  my  walking  stick).  . . . We  had  to  take  these 
loads  in  four  times  a month.’  ‘ How  much  pay  did  you  get  ?’ — 
(Entire  audience)  ‘We  got  no  pay.  We  got  nothing.’  ...  ‘It 
used  to  take  ten  days  to  get  the  twenty  baskets  of  rubber.  We 
were  always  in  the  forest,  and  then  when  we  were  late  we  were 
killed.  We  had  to  go  further  and  further  into  the  forest  to  find 
the  rubber  vines,  to  go  without  food,  and  our  women  had  to  give 
up  cultivating  the  fields  and  gardens.  Then  we  starved.  Wild 
beasts — the  leopards — killed  some  of  us  when  we  were  working 
away  in  the  forest,  and  others  got  lost  or  died  from  exposure  and 
starvation,  and  we  begged  the  white  man  to  leave  us  alone, 
saying  we  could  get  no  more  rubber,  but  the  white  men  and 
their  soldiers  said,  “ Go  ! You  are  only  beasts  yourselves ; you 
are  nyama  (meat).”  We  tried,  always  going  further  into  the 
forest,  and  when  we  failed  and  our  rubber  was  short  the  soldiers 
came  up  our  towns  and  shot  us.  Many  were  shot ; some  had 
their  ears  cut  off  ; others  were  tied  up  with  ropes  round  their 
neck  and  bodies  and  taken  away.  We  fled  because  we  could  not 
endure  the  things  done  to  us.  Our  chiefs  were  hanged,  and  we 
were  killed  and  starved  and  worked  beyond  endurance  to  get 
rubber.  . . . The  white  men  told  their  soldiers,  “You  kill  only 
women  ; you  cannot  kill  men.”  So  when  the  soldiers  killed  us  ’ 
(here  he  stopped  and  hesitated,  and  then,  pointing  to  the  private 
parts  of  my  bulldog — it  was  lying  asleep  at  my  feet)  he  said, 
‘then  they  cut  off  those  things  and  took  them  to  the  white  men, 
who  said,  “It  is  true  you  have  killed  men.”’  ‘You  mean  to  tell 
me  that  any  white  man  ordered  your  bodies  to  be  mutilated  like 
that,  and  those  parts  of  you  carried  to  him  ? ’ — (All  shouting)  ‘ Yes, 
many  white  men.’  ‘You  say  this  is  true?  Were  many  of  you 
so  treated  after  being  shot?’ — (All  shouting)  ‘Nkoto!  Nkoto!’ 
(Very  many ; very  many).” 

Mr.  Scrivener  in  his  diary  confirms  this  last  statement. 
He  heard  it  from  the  lips  of  the  sentries  themselves,  and  in 
the  Mongalla  massacres  of  1899  the  agents  of  the  Anversoise 
confessed  to  ordering  sexual  mutilations. 

Dealing  in  a long  enclosure  with  the  appalling  depopula- 
tion of  this  region,  Consul  Casement  gives  as  the  primary 
reason  thereof: — 


58 


The  Deeds 


" War,”  in  which  children  and  women  were  killed  as  well  as 
men.  Women  and  children  were  killed  not  in  all  cases  by  stray 
bullets,  but  were  taken  as  prisoners  and  killed.  Sad  to  say,  these 
horrible  cases  were  not  always  the  acts  of  some  black  soldier. 
Proof  was  laid  against  one  officer  who  shot  one  woman  and  one 
man  while  they  were  before  him  as  prisoners  with  their  hands 
tied,  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  deny  the  truth  of  the  statement. 
To  those  killed  in  the  so-called  “war”  must  be  added  large 
numbers  who  died  while  kept  as  prisoners  of  war.  The  irregular 
food  supply  has  been  another  cause,  says  the  Consul.  The  native 
is  “ without  ambition  because  without  hope.”  He  does  not  attend 
to  his  plantations  owing  to  the  sense  of  insecurity.  “ When  sick- 
ness comes  he  does  not  care.”  A third  cause  is  the  “ lower 
percentage  of  births.”  Weakened  bodies  brings  this  about,  also 
“women  refuse  to  bear  children  and  take  means  to  save  them- 
selves from  motherhood.”  They  “ give  as  the  reason  that,  if  war 
should  come,  a woman  big  with  child  or  with  a baby  to  carry 
cannot  well  run  away  and  hide  from  the  soldiers.”  With  regard 
to  the  mutilations  practised  by  the  soldiers  and  referred  to  by 
Mr.  Clark  and  others,  the  Consul  says,  “Of  acts  of  persistent 
mutilation  by  Government  soldiers  of  this  nature  I had  many 
statements  made  to  me,  some  of  them  specifically,  others  in  a 
general  way.  Of  the  fact  of  this  mutilation  and  the  causes 
inducing  it  there  can  be  no  shadow  of  doubt.  It  was  not  a 
native  custom  prior  to  the  coming  of  the  white  man  ; it  was  not 
the  outcome  of  the  primitive  instincts  of  savages  in  their  fights 
between  village  and  village ; it  was  the  deliberate  act  of  the 
soldiers  of  a European  administration,  and  these  men  themselves 
never  made  any  concealment  that  in  committing  these  acts  they 
were  but  obeying  the  positive  orders  of  their  superiors.” 

Whitehead,  John,  of  the  British  Baptist  Missionary 
Society.  Extracts  from  letter  to  Governor-General,  dated 
Lukolela,  July  28,  1903.  Published  in  Africa  No.  i,  1904 
(White  Book).  (Area  : river  banks.) 

“The  population  of  the  villages  of  Lukolela  in  January,  i8qi, 
must  have  been  not  less  than  6,000  people,  but  when  I counted 
the  whole  population  in  Lukolela  at  the  end  of  December,  1896, 
I found  it  to  be  only  719,  and  I estimated  from  the  decrease,  as 
far  as  we  could  count  up  the  known  number  of  deaths  during  the 
year,  that,  at  the  same  rate  of  decrease,  in  ten  years  the  people 
would  be  reduced  to  about  400;  but  judge  of  my  heartache  when 
on  counting  them  all  again  on  Friday  and  Saturday  last  to  find 
only  a population  of  352,  and  the  death  rate  rapidly  increasing.” 


59 


Red  Rubber 


Records  from  1899  to  1903. 

With  the  year  1898,  the  great  Trusts  of  the  central 
region  came  into  being,  and  to  the  horrors  of  the  Domaine 
de  la  Couronne  and  all  that  had  been  up  to  that  time  Domaine 
Thrive  were  added  the  horrors  of  the  Trust  area,  as  the 
agents  of  these  concerns  (which  are  the  King  under 
varying  labels — Vide  Section  IV.)  struck  new  ground,  or, 
as  was  the  case  with  the  A.B.I.R.,  carried  further  devasta- 
tion into  districts  already  “ tapped.” 

Lacroix  and  other  agents  of  the  Anversoise  Trust ; 
confessions  of.  (Area  : central  region,  Mongalla.) 

Fighting  in  the  Mongalla  district  had  been  continuous  since 
1898.  On  April  10,  1900,  the  Niuwe  Gazei,  of  Antwerp,  published 
the  confessions  of  Lacroix.  Instructed  by  his  superiors  to  attack 
a certain  village  for  shortage  in  rubber,  he  had  killed  in  the  course 
of  his  raid  many  women  and  children.  “ I am  going  to  appear 
before  the  Judge  for  having  killed  150  men,  cut  off  60  hands  ; 
for  having  crucified  women  and  children,  for  having  mutilated 
many  men  and  hung  their  sexual  remains  on  the  village  fence.” 
Other  confessions  followed,  published  in  Le  Petit  Bleu  and  other 
papers.  The  Congo  Courts  inflicted  long  terms  of  imprisonment. 
The  men  never  served  them,  and  have  long  since  been  released. 
The  defence  was  identical.  They  had  acted  under  instructions — 
to  force  rubber  by  any  and  every  means.  The  “superiors”  were 
not  troubled.  Later  on,  as  we  shall  see,  the  trial  of  the  man 
Cauldron,  also  an  agent  of  the  Anversoise,  showed,  four  years 
later,  a precisely  similar  state  of  affairs  existing  in  the  district. 

Weeks,  John  (see  above). 

Letter  of  protest  to  District  Commissioner  of  Bangala, 
dated  Monsembe,  November  30,  1903.  Published  in  the 
West  African  Mail  in  1904.  Describes  punishment  of 
towns  of  Bokongo,  Bongondo,  etc.,  for  shortage  in  food 
stuffs  by  a force  of  150  soldiers  under  an  officer;  gives 
names  of  eleven  women,  ten  men,  and  a girl  slaughtered 
unresisting  : “ It  is  very  evident  from  the  different  places  in 
which  these  people  were  shot  down  that  there  was  no  armed 
resistance  ” : “ have  you  neither  mothers  nor  sisters  that  you 
can  treat  women  in  this  brutal  way.”  Mr.  Weeks  proceeds  to 
give  particulars  of  increasing  wretchedness  of  people  owing 
to  scandalous  taxation  ; people  compelled  to  sell  their  rela- 

60 


The  Deeds 


lives  into  slavery  to  meet  it ; gives  names  of  people  sold  into 
slavery  to  provide  food  stuffs  for  State  stations.  Lieutenant 
in  charge  was  allowed  to  return  to  Europe,  although  a sub- 
sequent inquiry  confirmed  the  truth  of  Weeks’  charges. 
So  admitted  by  the  Commission  of  Inquiry. 

In  a letter  to  the  author,  dated  December  24,  1903, 
published  in  the  African  Mail^  1904.  Gives  abundant 
and  detailed  statistics  of  taxation  in  food  stuffs  : shows  that 
the  820  natives  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  in  the  four  sections 
of  Malela,  Bongondo,  Mungundu,  and  Bokongo  must  supply 
each  year  to  the  State  food  stuffs  aggregating  f 1,605  i6s.  8d. 
in  value. 

“ I need  scarcely  point  out  that  young  children,  very  old 
people,  and  invalids  cannot  earn  a wage,  or  even  farm  or  fish  ; 
consequently  the  burden  falls  heavier  on  those  who  can,  and  the 
vision  before  them  is  one  of  unceasing  toil  in  order  to  comply 
with  the  demands  of  the  State.  Is  it  any  wonder  the  natives  die 
under  the  burden  ? The  wonder  to  me  is  that  so  many  are  alive 
after  these  seven  years  of  oppression  and  taxation.  Death  has 
less  horror  than  this  constant  grind,  this  perpetually  trying  to  fill 
a bottomless  sack,  this  everlasting  paying  of  heavy  taxes,  meeting 
exorbitant  fines,  being  shot  down  untried,  or  forced  to  work  in 
the  chain  on  a State  station.  Death  is  kinder  than  this  sort  of 
living.  . . . My  colleague  has  just  returned  from  spending  a week 
among  the  Ndobo  towns,  and  his  comment  on  what  he  there 
beheld  was  ‘ Death  and  decay  in  all  around  I see.’  ” 

Tilkens,  Lieutenant,  officer  of  the  Force  Publique.  His 
letters  read  in  the  Belgian  House  in  July,  1903  ; cover 
1897-1900.  At  the  time  he  wrote  them  Tilkens  was 
carrying  out  his  duties  as  fixed  by  his  superior  officers. 
{Fide  Sections  I.  and  IV.  Area:  north-eastern  region. 
Domaine  PrivL) 

Letter  to  Major  Lenssens  of  the  Belgian  Army  on 
July  20,  1898. 

“The  Chef  de  Poste  of  Buta  announces  the  arrival  of  the 
steamer  Van  der  Kerkhove,  which  is  to  be  floated  upon  the  Nile. 
He  will  require  the  colossal  number  of  1,500  carriers.  Unhappy 
blacks  ! I do  not  like  to  think  of  it.  I ask  myself,  where  I can 
find  them.  If  the  roads  were  good  it  might  be  different ; but 
they  are  barely  cleared,  crossed  repeatedly  by  marshes,  where 
many  will  find  a certain  death.  Hunger  and  the  fatigues  of  an 
eight  days’  march  will  account  for  many  more.  What  blood  this 

61 


Red  Rubber 


transport  had  not  caused  to  flow  ! Three  times  already  have 
I been  forced  to  make  war  upon  chiefs  who  refuse  to  co-operate 
in  the  work.  Unfortunately  they  are  but  poorly  paid  for  such 
arduous  labour — 5d.  worth  of  cowries  for  the  upward  journey, 
and  a piece  of  American  cloth  for  the  homeward  journey.  If  a 
chief  refuses  it  is  war,  and  that  atrocious  war — perfected  weapons 
of  destruction  against  spears  and  lances.  ...  A native  chief  has 
just  come  to  tell  me,  ‘ My  village  is  a heap  of  ruins  ; all  my  wives 
have  been  killed.  Yet  what  can  I do  ? When  I tell  my  people 
to  carry  the  white  man’s  goods  they  flee  to  the  woods,  and  when 
your  soldiers  come  to  recruit  I can  give  them  no  one  because  my 
people  prefer  to  die  of  hunger  in  the  woods  rather  than  do  trans- 
port work.’  . . . Often  am  I compelled  to  put  these  unhappy  chiefs 
in  the  chains,  until  some  loo  or  200  carriers  are  obtained,  which 
procures  their  liberation.  Very  often  my  soldiers  find  the  villages 
deserted ; then  they  seize  women  and  children  and  capture 
them.” 

To  his  mother  in  1898  : 

“ Commandant  Meeus,  my  District  Commissioner,  is  about  to 
return  and  Commandant  Verstraeten,  the  friend  of  Major 
Lenssens,  replaces  him.  It  is  he  who  inspected  my  station  and 
who  complimented  me  highly.  He  told  me  that  the  nature  of  his 
report  would  depend  upon  the  quantity  of  rubber  produced. 
When  he  left  me  he  told  me  to  employ  myself  actively  in  collect- 
ing rubber  and  from  360  kilos  in  September,  my  production  rose 
to  1,500  kilos  in  October,  and  this  month  I trust  it  will  be  over 
2,000  kilos.  ...  By  January  I shall  be  making  4,000  kilos  per 
month,  which  makes  500  francs  profit  above  my  salary.  ...  I 
really  am  a lucky  fellow,  and  if  I play  at  rubber  for  two  years  I 
shall  make  12,000  francs  over  and  above  my  salary.” 

On  January  26,  1899,  Commandant  Verstraeten  wrote 
to  the  Governor-General : 

“I  draw  the  Government’s  attention  to  Lieutenants  Tilkens, 
Landeghem,  and  Verslype.  These  agents  have  specially  distin- 
guished themselves  in  putting  in  train  the  exploitation  of  rubber. 
To  them  is  due  the  surprising  results  obtained  in  the  area  allotted 
to  their  action.” 

Tilkens  to  Major  Lenssens,  May  12,  25,  July  ii,  and 
August  10,  1899  : 

“ I expect  a general  uprising.  I think  I warned  you  of  this. 
Major,  in  my  last.  The  motive  is  alw’ays  the  same.  The  natives 
are  tired  of  the  existing  rigitne — transport  work,  rubber  collect- 
ing, furnishing  live  stock  for  whites  and  blacks.  . . . For  three 
months  I have  been  fighting,  with  ten  days’  rest.  ...  I have  152 

62 


The  Deeds 


prisoners.  For  two  years  I have  been  making  war  in  this  country, 
always  accompanied  by  forty  or  filiy  Albinism  Yet  I cannot  say  I 
have  subjugated  the  people.  . . . They  prefer  to  die.  . . . What 
can  I do  ? I am  paid  to  do  my  work,  I am  an  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  my  chiefs,  and  I obey  the  orders  which  discipline 
exacts.” 

Verstraeten  was  never  punished.  Nay,  he  has  been  pro- 
moted in  the  Belgian  army  which  he  continues  to  adorn. 

Ruskin,  of  the  Congo  Balolo  Mission.  Declarations  before 
Judicial  Officer  Rossi,  April  I2,  1902.  Minutes  taken 
down  by  Mr.  Jeffery  of  the  same  mission,  in  shorthand. 
Confirmed  before  Commission  of  Inquiry,  and  accepted  as 
correct,  1904.  Published  in  1904  by  author.  Area  : 
A.B.I.R.  concession  ; central  region  (extracts)  : 

“ In  the  early  months  of  1899  M had  a large  number  of 

prisoners  “ at  the  factory.  They  were  improperly  fed  and  cared 
for  and  died  at  the  rate  of  from  three,  five,  and  sometimes  ten  a 
day.  They  were  dragged  by  a piece  of  ngoji  tied  to  the  foot  out 
into  the  bush,  and  only  a little  earth  and  a few  sticks  thrown  on 
top  of  them.  Hands  and  feet  were  left  sticking  up  and  the 
stench  was  awful.  . . . On  July  18,  1899,  four  were  released.  An 
old  man  was  found  in  the  mission  station.  We  gave  him  food 
and  water  which  he  ate  ravenously,  the  director  came  up  . . . and 
released  one  hundred  and  six  prisoners.  We  saw  them  pass  our 
station,  living  skeletons.  Some  were  so  much  reduced  that  they 
had  to  be  carried  home.  Among  them  were  old  greyheaded 
men  and  women.  Many  children  were  born  in  prison. 

“ They  also  seized  Balua,  the  wife  of  Bontanga,  and  M.  F 

had  her  flogged  giving  her  two  hundred  chicoite.  So  severely  was 
she  dealt  with  that  blood  and  urine  flowed  from  her.  She  died 

shortly  after.  . . . One  man  had  bad  rubber ; M.  G compelled 

him  to  lie  on  the  ground  and  Ilunga,  one  of  the  sentries,  gave  the 

man  chicotte.  G then  struck  the  man  with  the  flat  of  a machet, 

and  he  jumped  up.  G drew  his  revolver  and  shot  him  through 

the  leg.  . . .M.F thought  that  his  men  were  not  strong  enough 

and,  therefore,  could  not  compel  the  people  to  bring  in  what  he 
considered  sufficient  rubber.  Once  when  he  was  away  his  men 
stole  some  rubber,  and  for  this  he  had  them  tied  up  right  in  the 
sun  to  stakes  for  a day  and  a night.  Mrs.  Cole  (now  Mrs.  Harber) 
when  passing  on  her  way  to  the  schools  saw  the  men  there  from 
a distance.  They  were  naked  and  without  food  and  water  all  day, 
and  so  great  was  their  agony  that  their  tongues  were  hanging 
out." 


' E.g.,  soldiers  armed  with  the  A Ibini  rifle. 
* E.g.,  hostages. 

63 


Red  Rubber 


Didier,  French  explorer  attached  to  the  Bourg  de  Bozas 
Expedition,  passed  through  the  Lado  enclave  in  October, 
1902,  reports  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Congo  State  Fort  at 
Dufile  “ deserted  by  its  former  inhabitants.”  Along  the 
whole  course  of  the  route  the  natives  had  fled  “ fearing  the 
white  man’s  impositions.”  (Area:  north-eastern  region; 
Domaine  PrivL) 

Cromer,  Earl  of,  reporting  to  British  Government  of  the 
same  region  in  1903  (White  Book,  Africa,  No.  l,  1904) 
says  : 

“The  reason  of  all  this  (deserted  condition  of  the  country, 
oppression,  etc.)  is  obvious  enough.  The  Belgians  are  disliked, 
the  people  fly  from  them,  and  it  is  no  wonder  they  should  do  so, 
for  I am  informed  that  the  soldiers  are  allowed  full  liberty  to 
plunder,  that  payments  are  rarely  made  for  supplies.  ...  I 
understand  that  no  Belgian  officer  can  move  outside  the  settle- 
ments without  a strong  guard.” 

Grogan,  independent  English  explorer,  says  of  the  whole 
eastern  frontier  ^ [Domaine  Privi)  : 

“ From  the  north  of  Lake  Albert  to  Lake  Mweru  there  is  a 
perfect  state  of  chaos.  Whole  districts  are  administered  by 
incompetent  officials,  often  non-commissioned  officers,  and  the 
troops  are  the  lowest  type  of  natives,  almost  invariably  cannibals. 
. . . The  people  were  terrorised  and  living  in  marshes.  . . . The 
Belgians  have  crossed  the  frontier,  descended  into  the  valley, 
shot  down  large  numbers  of  natives — British  subjects — driven  off 
the  young  women  and  cattle,  and  actually  tied  up  and  burned  the 
old  women.  I do  not  make  these  statements  without  having 
gone  into  the  matter.  . . . Every  village  has  been  burnt  to  the 
ground,  and  as  I fled  from  the  country  I saw  skeletons,  skeletons 
everywhere  ; and  such  postures,  what  tales  of  horror  they  told  ! 
. . . Thus  a tract  of  country  about  3,000  square  miles  in  extent 
has  been  depopulated  and  devastated.  . . . This  was  the  Congo 
Free  State  ! . . . When  in  Mboya  the  Balegga  told  me  similar 
tales  ; here  I was  repeatedly  given  accounts  that  tallied  in  all 
essentials,  and  further  north  the  Wakoba  made  the  same  piteous 
complaints  ; and  I saw  myself  that  a country  well-populated  and 
responsive  to  just  treatment  in  Lugard’s  time  is  now  practically  a 
howling  wilderness. 

Baccari,  Captain-Surgeon  in  the  navy,  royal  Italian  envoy 
to  the  Congo  in  regard  to  a bogus  emigration  scheme 


' “ From  the  Cape  to  Cairo,”  1900. 

64 


The  Deeds 


fostered  by  the  King  Leopold  to  throw  dust  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Italian  public.  Passed  through  the  eastern  district 
{Domaine  Privi)  in  1903.  Report  suppressed  by  Italian 
Government ; a bald,  very  bald  summary,  only  allowed  to 
appear : — 

" As  to  the  natives  those  nearest  to  the  proposed  Italian  settle- 
ments are  nearly  all  in  revolt  against  the  Belgians.  Everywhere 
the  blacks  are  terrorised  and  suspicious.  . . . The  natives  have 
to  be  compelled  to  work,  so  we  have  all  the  ghastly  scenes  of 
the  slave  trade,  the  collar,  the  lash,  and  the  press-gang." 

Interviewed  by  the  Giornale  d'ltalia^  Captain  Baccari 
stated  that  the  : 

“ Italian  officers  employed  in  the  Congo  were  intended  to  be 
used  in  the  enslavement  of  the  natives,  but  that  they  had  refused 
to  carry  out  this  design,  and  had  in  consequence  become  objects 
of  persecution." 

Many  reports  of  the  Italian  officers  employed  in  the 
Congo  army  were  published  by  the  Italian  papers  in  1905, 
covering  their  experiences  chiefly  in  the  Eastern  district. 
Summing  up  these  reports  the  Corriere  della  Sera  says : 
“Slavery  nominally  established  is  rampant,  cannibalism 
exists,  and  the-  sole  desire  of  the  native  is,  if  possible,  to 
flee  from  the  white  man.”  Fide  also  statement  in 
Section  IV. 

Lloyd,  A.  B.,  independent  English  traveller,  crossed  the 
Congo  from  the  Semliki  to  the  ocean  in  1899.  (Area: 
north-eastern  region,  Domaine  Prive.) 

“ In  the  afternoon  I was  walking  through  the  potato  fields  when 
I came  upon  sixty  or  a hundred  women,  all  with  hoes  cultivating 
the  ground,  and  close  at  hand  a native  soldier  with  a rifle  across 
his  shoulder  mounting  guard.  I inquired  where  all  the  poor 
creatures  had  come  from,  and  was  told  a sad  story — alas  ! not 
uncommon  in  the  Belgian  Free  State.  A Wakona  chief  had 
been  told  to  do  some  work  for  the  Belgians,  and  when  he  refused, 
soldiers  were  sent,  and  upon  the  least  resistance  the  men  were 
shot  down  and  the  women  captured.  It  was  a sad  sight  to 
behold  these  poor  creatures  driven  like  dogs  here  and  there  and 
kept  hard  at  their  toil  from  morning  till  night.  One  of  the 
Belgian  soldiers  told  me  that  there  had  been  many  killed,  includ- 
ing the  chief,  and  when  I said  what  a terrible  thing  it  was,  he 

65  6 


Red  Rubber 


merely  laughed  and  said,  ‘Washenzi  Bevana’  (they  are  only 
heathen).”  ‘ 

Scrivener,  A.  E.,  of  the  British  Baptist  Missionary 
Society,  traversed  a tract  150  miles  long,  on  foot,  in  the 
Domaine  de  la  Couronne  in  July,  August,  and  September, 
1903.  Allowed  the  author  to  make  full  use  of  his  diary  ; 
printed  in  full  in  the  TVest  African  Mail^  in  1905, 
It  is  very  voluminous  and  the  briefest  summary  here 
given  ; — 

“ In  the  afternoon  we  passed  a ruined  mud  house,  and  were 
told  that  this  had  been  a rubber  post  with  soldiers  in  charge,  but 
that  since  all  the  people  had  run  away  it  had  been  given  up. 
Later  on  we  saw  still  more  numerous  sites  where  only  recently 
thousands  of  people  had  been  living.  Cassava  was  still  growing 
in  the  plantations,  and  bananas  were  rotting  on  the  trees.  . . . 
All  as  still  as  the  grave.  ...  A little  further  on  we  found  another 
deserted  rubber  post.  Just  as  the  sun  was  setting  we  reached  a 
large  and  imposing  State  post.  . . . All  round  were  plentiful 
signs  of  the  former  population.  Later  I heard  from  a white 
official  that  the  remaining  population  did  not  number  a hundred 
all  told.  . . . For  hours  we  walked  through  a deserted  country, 
though  here  and  there  on  both  sides  were  frequent  signs  of  a 
recent  population.  . . . Three  chiefs  came  in  with  all  the  adult 
members  of  their  people,  and  altogether  there  were  not 
three  hundred.  And  this  where  not  more  than  six  or  seven  years 
previously  there  were  at  least  three  thousand  ! It  made  one’s 
heart  heavy  to  listen  to  the  tales  of  bloodshed  and  cruelty.  . . . 
We  passed  through  miles  and  miles  of  deserted  sites,  and  on  all 
sides  were  groves  of  palms,  and  bananas,  and  many  other 
evidences  of  a big  people.  ...  A man  bringing  in  rather  under 
the  proper  amount  of  rubber,  the  white  man  flies  into  a rage  and 
seizing  a rifle  from  one  of  the  guards  shoots  him  dead  on  the 
spot.  Men  who  had  tried  to  run  from  the  country  and  had  been 
caught,  were  brought  to  the  station  and  made  to  stand  one  behind 
the  other  and  ^.nAlbini  bullet  sent  through  them.  ‘A  pity  to  waste 

cartridges  on  such  wretches.’  . . . On  M removing  from 

the  station,  his  successor  nearly  fainted  on  attempting  to  enter 
the  station  prison  in  which  were  numbers  of  poor  wretches  so 
reduced  by  starvation  and  the  awful  stench  from  weeks  of 
accumulation  of  filth  that  they  were  not  able  to  stand.  ...  In 
due  course  we  reached  I ball.  There  was  hardly  a sound  building 
in  the  place.  Why  such  dilapidation  ? The  commandant  away 
on  a trip  likely  to  extend  into  three  months,  the  sub-lieutenant 


‘ “ In  Dwarf -land  and  Cannibal  Country,”  1899. 

66 


The  Deeds 


away  in  another  direction  on  a punitive  expedition.  In  other 
words  the  station  must  be  neglected  and  rubber-hunting  carried 
out  with  all  vigour.  I stayed  here  two  days,  and  the  one  thing 
that  impressed  itself  on  me  was  the  collection  of  rubber.  I saw 
long  files  of  men  come,  as  at  Mbongo,  with  their  little  baskets 
under  their  arms,  saw  them  paid  their  milk- tin  full  of  salt,  and 
the  two  yards  of  calico  flung  at  the  head  men  ; saw  their  tremb- 
ling timidity.  ...  So  much  for  my  journey  to  the  Lake  (Lake 
Leopold  II.).  It  has  enlarged  my  knowledge  of  the  country,  and 
also,  alas  ! my  knowledge  of  the  awful  deeds  enacted  in  the  mad 
haste  to  get  rich.  The  Bulgarian  atrocities  might  be  considered 
as  mildness  itself  when  compared  with  what  has  been  done 
here.” 

Bond,  Charles,  of  the  Congo  Balolo  Mission,  in  a letter 
published  in  December,  1903,  says  of  the  A.B.I.R.  concession 
territory  : — 

“ I have  the  evidence  of  a number  of  men  working  for  us  at 
the  present  time  that  at  their  town  on  the  Bosombo  River 
numbers  of  men  have  been  killed  outright,  and  others  have  died 
from  having  their  hands  cut  off  because  they  would  not  submit 
to  demands.” 

Casement,  Roger  (see  above).  To  give  a summary  of 
Consul  Casement’s  report  describing  the  condition  of  affairs 
observed  by  him  in  1903  which  would  convey  to  the  reader 
a just  notion  of  its  cumulative  force,  would  be  impossible 
without  devoting  to  it  more  space  than  I can  afford.  The 
area  affected  is  the  river  bank  region  on  the  main  high- 
way of  “Leopoldian  civilisation.”  Here  are  a few  short 
summaries  : — 

A village  of  240  people  all  told,  compelled  to  produce  one 
ton  of  “carefully  prepared  food  stufe”  every  week  at  a price  far 
below  the  current  figure.  Other  villages  in  much  the  same 
situation  forced  to  carry  their  “tax”  long  distances.  A group 
of  villages  whose  population  in  1887  was  5,000,  now  reduced 
to  500.  Raids  and  slaughter  for  delay  in  paying  food  taxes 
(p.  26).  Insufficiency  of  food  accountable  for  much  of  the 
sickness  prevalent  (p.  28).  Monstrous  and  illegal  fines  for 
shortage  in  food  supplies,  or  rubber,  impoverishing  the  people, 
and  leading  to  general  wretchedness  and  despair.  Natives 
fleeing  from  the  white  man,  where  formerly  they  greeted  him 
with  open  arms.  Villages  taxed  in  gum  copal  to  an  almost 
incredible  extent.  A group  of  villages  working  all  the  year 
round,  and  subject  to  the  usual  punishments  for  shortage,  pro- 
ducing per  town  ;^30o  pet  annum  value  in  gum  copal,  receiving 

67 


Red  Rubber 


£io  per  annum  as  a return  ! A native  of  Montaka — a typical 
case — produces  some  ;^I2  of  gum  copal  per  annum,  and  receives 
in  exchange  is.  4d.  for  his  “ entire  year’s  work,”  the  value  of  an 
adult  fowl  according  to  local  prices  ? Mutilation  and  outrage 
frequent  and  habitual.  Slavery  forced  upon  the  people — that  is, 
selling  relatives — in  order  to  meet  State  demands.  Women  taken 
to  hostage  houses  before  the  Consul’s  eyes.  Their  men-folk 
guilty  of  shortage  in  rubber,  etc.,  etc. 

I would  earnestly  beg  every  reader  of  this  volume  to  spend 
8jd.  and  write  to  Messrs.  Harrison  and  Sons,  St.  Martin’s 
Lane,  for  a copy  of  the  Report  (Africa,  No.  i,  1904). 

Berthier,  L^on,  Frenchman,  visited  the  Upper  River, 
and  spent  some  time  in  the  country  (1899  to  1901).  His 
diary  was  published  by  the  Colonial  Institute  of  Marseilles 
in  1902.  (Area  : river  banks,  north  and  central  region, 
Doma  'tne  Privi.)  Here  are  short  extracts ; — 

“ Belgian  post  of  Imesse  well  constructed.  The  CheJ  de  Paste 
is  absent.  He  has  gone  to  punish  the  village  of  M’Batchi,  guilty 
of  being  a little  late  in  paying  the  rubber  tax.  ...  A canoe 
full  of  Congo  State  soldiers  returns  from  the  pillage  of  M’Batchi. 

. . . Thirty  killed,  fifty  wounded.  ...  At  three  o’clock  arrive  at 
M’Batchi,  the  scene  of  the  bloody  punishment  of  the  Chef  de  Paste 
at  Imesse.  Poor  village.  The  debris  of  miserable  huts.  . . . 
One  goes  away  humiliated  and  saddened  from  these  scenes  of 
desolation,  filled  with  indescribable  feelings.” 

Gilchrist,  Somerville,  of  the  Congo  Balolo  Mission,  in 
a letter  of  protest  to  the  Governor-General  on  the  condition 
of  the  people  of  the  Lolanga  District,  July,  1903.  (Area  : 
river  banks  and  central  region,  Domaine  Privi.) 

Describes  exorbitant  fines  and  monstrous  taxation  levied 
upon  these  people  by  the  State. 

“Eight  years  ago  there  was  a population  in  these  towns  of 
at  least  5,000  people,  compared  with  the  1,200  to-day.  . . . 
The  people  themselves  are  literally  starving  to  keep  up  these 
supplies.” 

There  was  the  usual  bogus  inquiry  which  came  to 
nothing. 

Frame,  W.  B.,  of  the  British  Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
in  a letter  to  the  author  dated  March  10,  1904,  describes 
the  state  of  the  country  as  noted  by  him  in  a trip  up-river 
in  1903  : — 


68 


The  Deeds 


"I  am  convinced  that,  with  the  exception  of  this  very  limited 
district  (Lower  Congo),  and,  perhaps,  that  of  Stanley  Falls,  the 
title  of  ‘ Slave  State  ’ is  very  fitting  to  the  regime  that  exists. 
...  As  I traversed  the  old  caravan  road  to  the  Pool  my  eyes 
were  opened.  Crowds  of  people  passed  me  every  now  and  then, 
bearing  heavy  loads  of  kwanga  (cassava  puddings)  for  the  State. 
Some  were  little  girls  of  twelve  years  of  age  carrying  eight 
and  ten  ; some  were  women  converted  into  sweating  beasts  of 
burden,  for  besides  the  twelve  kwanga  on  the  head,  they  often 
had  a baby  on  the  back  ; some  were  men  and  some  were  little 
boys.  . . . What  the  State  demands  is  that  such  and  such  a 
town  shall  bring  in,  say,  250  kwanga  every  fourth,  eighth,  or 
twelfth  day,  according  to  the  distance.  What  it  means  to  the 
people  is  nothing  to  the  State,  and  the  cry  of  the  women,  who 
have  to  grind  from  morning  to  night  to  provide  and  often  to 
carry,  is  not  heard  by  the  State  officer.  The  labour  is  forced. 
. . . The  natives  have  no  time  for  anything  else.  They  are 
slaves.  All  up  the  river  is  the  same  thing.  ...  At  one  place 
where  crowds  of  people  ought  to  have  been  on  the  beach  we 
found  the  whole  town  had  fled.  Young  and  old,  male  and 
female,  were  hiding  in  the  bush  because  the  fish  tax  was  not 
complete.  . . . We  visited  a town  near  Lisali  where  the  people 
had  recently  come  from  inland  to  escape  the  cruelties  of  the 
rubber  tax.” 

Frame,  W.  B.,  Howell,  John,  Kempton,  S.  C.,  Kirk- 
land, R.  K.,  all  missionaries  of  the  British  Baptist  Society, 
were  descending  the  Congo  on  the  missionary  steamer 
Goodwill  when,  on  October  29,  1903,  they  came  across, 
when  turning  a bend  of  the  river,  the  following  scene  at  the 
native  village  of  Yandjali,  where  the  steamer  was  wont  to 
call  for  fuel : — 

“The  town  was  occupied  by  a party  of  Congo  Government 
soldiers  under  two  white  officers.  The  four  missionaries  on 
board  were  horrified  to  see  the  native  soldiers  of  the  adminis- 
tration, under  the  very  eyes  of  their  officers,  engaged  in  mutilat- 
ing dead  bodies  of  natives  who  had  just  been  killed.  Three 
native  bodies  were  lying  near  the  river’s  edge  as  the  Goodwill 
put  into  the  banks,  and  human  limbs  were  lying  within  a few 
yards  of  the  steamer  as  she  sought  to  make  fast.  One  of  the 
slaughtered  natives  was  a child.  A State  soldier  was  seen  draw- 
ing away  the  legs  and  other  portions  of  a human  body.  Another 
soldier  was  seen  standing  by  a large  native  basket  in  which  were 
the  viscera  of  a human  body.  The  missionaries  were  promptly 
ordered  off  the  beach  by  the  two  officers  presiding  over  this 
human  shambles.” 

69 


Red  Rubber 


Mr.  Frame,  in  a letter  to  the  author,  confirms  the 
accuracy  of  the  above  account : — 

" Time  can  never  wipe  the  barbarous  scene  from  our  memory. 
The  mutilated  dead,  the  mad  rushing  and  firing  of  the  soldiers 
let  loose,  and  the  hasty  flight  of  the  poor  people  hunted  from 
their  homes  like  wild  beasts,  made  us  sick  at  heart,  and  when 
we  looked  into  the  faces  of  our  black  crew  we  were  ashamed,  for 
were  not  these  things  done  in  the  name  of  the  State,  and  under 
the  eyes  of  its  white  officers.” 

It  is  advisable  to  bear  in  mind  that  this  incident  occurred 
three  years  ago,  on  the  main  pathway  of  civilisation  !” 
Imagine  what  must  take  place  in  centres  removed  from 
prowling  missionaries  ! 

Williams,  A.  R.,  of  the  Christian  Missionary  Alliance 
of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Hall,  a West  Indian  missionary  of 
good  family,  trained  at  the  Calabar  College,  Kingston, 
Jamaica,  attached  to  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society  of 
Boston,  describe  in  letters  to  the  author  published  in  1904, 
the  impoverished  condition  of  the  natives  of  the  Lower 
Congo,  whose  condition  is  one  of  Elysian  bliss  compared 
with  their  tortured  and  oppressed  brethren  in  the  vast  upper 
region.  “ They  live  on,  getting  more  impoverished  every 
year,”  says  Mr.  Hall.  “ The  soldiers,”  says  Mr.  Williams, 
“ are  a perfect  terror  to  the  whole  place.  They  rape  the 
women,  clear  the  villages  of  live  stock,  and  generally  behave 
in  the  most  oppressive  manner.” 

De  Lamothe,  ex-Governor  of  French  Congo,  testifying 
before  the  Cotelle  Commission  held  in  Paris  in  1900  to 
inquire  into  the  working  of  the  concessionnaire  system,  stated 
in  reply  to  questions  that  thirty  thousand  natives  had  crossed 
from  the  Congo  State  into  French  territory  owing  to  the 
ill-treatment  meted  out  to  them. 

The  American  Memorial  to  Congress  presented  through 
Senator  Morgan  on  April  19,  1904,  contains  long  accounts 
from  several  American  missionaries  working  in  the  Congo 
as  to  the  state  of  affairs  prevailing.  It  is  always  the  same 
story.  Here  are  some  extracts.  (Area  : central  region, 
Domaine  Privl.) 

Layton,  A.  E.,  reports  on  children  forced  to  work  for  the 
State,  and  the  system  of  hostages  or  prisoners  to  compel  labour. 

70 


The  Deeds 


Dr.  Lyon  writes  : " A close  acquaintance  with  the  conditions 
shows  the  cogency  of  the  natives’  contentions  that  they  are  no 
less  than  slaves  to  the  State.  And  as  slaves  I have  observed  they 
must  sometimes  make  bricks  without  straw,  as  when  one  must 
furnish  fish  nearly  the  year  round,  and  he  can  catch  fish  only 
at  certain  seasons.  Then  one  is  forced  to  buy  in  other  parts, 
paying  in  this  way  ten  to  forty  times  what  will  be  received  in 
return  from  the  State  Post.  To  meet  these  obligations  one  of  the 
remaining  members  of  a once  large  family  had  to  pawn,  f.r.,  sell 
into  slavery,  a younger  member  of  his  family.  ‘ The  poor  people 
of  this  section  (Bolengi,  near  Coquilhatville)  are  broken-spirited 
and  poverty-stricken  by  an  arbitrary  and  oppressive  system  of 
taxation.’ " 

Billington,  A.  E.,  reports  from  Bwembu  : " Men  are  first 
applied  for,  and  if  they  do  not  present  themselves,  a soldier  or 
soldiers  are  sent,  who  tie  up  the  women  or  the  chiefs  until  the 
workmen  are  forthcoming.” 

Clark,  Joseph,  reports  : “I  have  seen  men  and  women  chained 
by  the  neck  being  driven  by  an  armed  soldier.  . . . The  native 
has  no  desire  for  the  improvement  of  his  surroundings.  He  will 
not  make  a good  house  or  large  gardens  because  it  will  give  the 
State  a greater  hold  on  him.  His  wife  refuses  to  become  a 
mother  because  she  will  not  be  able  to  run  away  in  case  of  attack. 
Twice  this  week  the  people  of  Ikoko  have  been  rushing  off  to 
the  bush  to  hide  on  the  approach  of  a large  canoe  of  soldiers.” 

And  so  on  ad  infinitum  et  nauseam. 

Morrison,  William  (see  above),  1898-1902.  First 
accounts  made  public  in  1900.  Morrison  sent  a private 
personal  appeal  to  King  Leopold  on  October  21,  1899. 
(Area  : south-western  region,  Kasai.) 

Describes  raiding  by  State  officers  and  soldiers  round  Luebo  ; 
efforts  being  made  to  compel  the  Baluba  population  of  Luebo, 
consisting  of  several  thousands,  to  remove  to  Luluabourg,  the 
State  station,  five  days  distant  “ where  they  would  have  to  work.” 
In  July,  1899,  heard  that  a large  body  of  Zappo-Zaps,  a cannibal 
tribe,  armed  and  utilised  by  the  State  to  force  rubber  from  the 
natives — as  irregulars  in  fact — were  forcing  rubber  tribute  in 
the  Bena  Pianga  country.  Similar  information  reached  Shep- 
pard, Morrison’s  colleague,  at  a station  nearer  the  scene  of  the 
disturbances.  A number  of  the  prominent  chiefs- of  the  region 
had  been  invited  by  the  Zappo-Zaps  to  a conference  and 
treacherously  murdered.  Sheppard  went  to  the  spot.  He  was 
received  in  a friendly  way  by  the  Zappo-Zaps.  Saw  many  burnt 
villages.  In  the  raiders’  stockade  where  the  slaughter  had  taken 
place  Sheppard  “saw  and  counted”  eighty-one  human  hands 
slowly  drying  over  a fire.  Outside  the  stockade  more  than  two 

71 


Red  Rubber 


score  bodies  he  counted.  Some  of  the  flesh  had  been  carved 
off  and  eaten.  Some  of  the  Zappo-Zaps  were  armed  with  the 
Albini. 

On  May  5,  1903,  Morrison  addressed  a public  meeting  con- 
vened by  the  Aborigines  Protection  Society,  and  gave  a number 
of  details  of  the  reign  of  terror  in  June,  July,  and  August,  1902, 
in  his  district,  chiefly  dealing  with  man-hunting  by  State  officers 
and  troops  to  recruit  soldiers. 

Gilchrist,  Sommerville  (see  above),  in  comments  on  the 
Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry.  Published  in 
C.  R.  A.  organ,  December,  1905.  (Area  : river  banks, 
central  region,  Doma'tne  PrivL)  Gives  in  abundant  detail 
effects  of  State  “ taxes  ” upon  the  people  covering  many 
years. 

“ With  regard  to  the  causes  of  depopulation  in  the  Lolanga 
district  where  I have  lived  for  fourteen  years  I emphatically  affirm 
that  for  one  who  has  died  of  sleeping  sickness  there  have  been 
twenty  deaths  due  to  lung  and  intestinal  diseases  ; and  for  one 
death  due  to  smallpox,  there  have  been  forty  due  to  lung  and 
intestinal  troubles.  . . . The  lung  and  intestinal  troubles  are 
without  doubt  due,  in  a very  large  proportion  of  the  cases,  to 
exposure  involved  in  collecting  the  taxes,  and  in  hiding  from  the 
soldiers  in  the  forest,  as  well  as  the  miserable  huts  the  natives 
now  live  in,  because  they  have  neither  time  nor  heart  to  build 
better.  And  all  the  diseases  mentioned  with  others  find  ready 
victims  in  the  half-fed  people,  and  produce  their  fell  work  with 
the  greater  rapidity  and  effect.  ...  So  strong  is  the  passion  for 
rubber  and  copal  that  the  companies  and  the  State  on  the  various 
rivers  are  continually  having  disputes  about  their  respective 
boundaries,  and  overlapping  in  what  they  claim  to  be  each 
other’s  territory  in  the  interior  between  the  tributaries  and  the 
main  Congo.  It  was  one  of  the  commonest  occupations  of  the 
Conmissaires  to  be  settling  these  disputes.  And  it  was  a very 
frequent  cause  of  bloody  affrays  between  the  natives  serving  the 
various  companies  or  State — the  trespassing  on  each  other’s  parts 
of  the  forest  while  out  gathering  the  rubber  to  meet  the  respective 
demands  made  upon  them." 

Whitehead,  John,  of  the  British  Baptist  Missionary 
Society,  testified  before  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  on  the 
history  of  his  district  (Lukolela).  Evidence  suppressed; 
part  published  in  the  C.  R.  A.  organ  for  December,  1905. 

Mr.  Whitehead’s  statement  traces  the  history  of  the 
district  from  1891  to  1905.  First  food  taxes,  then  rubber 
taxes  and  food  taxes. 


72 


The  Deeds 


“ Until  then  there  had  been  no  demand  for  rubber.  When 
that  demand  was  made  and  the  people  objected,  an  expedition 
went  inland  about  the  end  of  1901.  The  prowess  of  the  State 
force  was  exhibited,  chiefs  killed,  villages  destroyed,  and  the  pay- 
ment of  the  tax  enforced.”  Gives  depositions  of  chiefs  and  much 
evidence.  Protesting  to  the  Governor-General  in  a letter  dated 
April  19,  1904,  he  calls  attention  to  the  system  prevailing  forcing 
lads  to  “ sign  on  ” for  twelve  years  as  “ labourers.” 

Ruskin,  Mrs.,  of  the  Congo  Balolo  Mission  in  comment 
upon  the  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry.  Published 
in  C.  R.  A.  organ  for  December,  1905.  She  describes  the 
beginning  of  the  rubber  traffic  in  the  A.B.I.R.  concession  : — 

“ It  is  interesting  to  hear  the  Bongandanga  people  tell  of  the 
beginning  of  the  rubber  trade.  How  wonderful  they  thought  it 
was  that  the  white  man  should  want  rubber,  and  be  willing  to 
pay  for  it  [that  was  in  the  days  antecedent  to  the  decree  of  1891. 
— Author]  . How  they  almost  fought  for  the  baskets  in  order  to 
bring  them  in  and  obtain  the  offered  riches.  But  they  say, 
‘ We  did  not  know,  we  never  understood  what  it  would  become 
in  the  future.’  Now  it  is  looked  upon  as  the  equivalent  of  death ; 
they  do  not  complain  so  much  of  want  of  payment,  as  that  there 
is  no  rest  from  the  work,  and  no  end  to  it  except  death.  ...  I 
have  known  women  to  be  taken  (as  hostages)  without  any  regard 
to  their  condition,  during  pregnancy  or  the  period  of  lactation. 
They  were  made  to  work  in  the  sun  at  grass  work  or  weeding  ; 
some  were  confined  in  the  common  prison  or  hostage  house 
without  any  privacy,  and  obliged  to  be  at  work  again  in  a few 
days  with  their  babies  at  their  backs.  The  hostage  house  was 
described  to  me  by  a woman  who  had  been  imprisoned  there  ; 
and  the  details  would  be  unprintable.  . . . Only  two  epidemics 
of  smallpox  have  been  known  in  the  memory  of  living  natives 
at  Bongandanga,  one  in  1901,  and  the  other  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  before.  Sleeping  sickness  was  absolutely  unknown  until 
about  four  years  ago.  The  people  are  easy  victims  to  it,  because 
of  lack  of  food  and  rest,  and  exposure  to  damp,  rain,  and  cold. 
Also  they  are  fast  losing  any  desire  to  live,  and  therefore  do  not 
try  to  throw  off  the  terrible  lethargy  which  so  soon  overcomes 
them.” 

Messrs.  Gilchrist,  Weeks,  and  other  missionaries  are 
unanimous  in  describing  the  ravages  of  diseases — sleeping 
sickness,  intestinal  trouble,  pneumonia,  etc.,  to  the  wretched 
condition  of  the  people  owing  to  the  grinding  tyranny 
under  which  they  live,  to  supply  King  Leopold  and  his 

73 


Red  Rubber 


financiers  with  revenues,  and  his  soldiers  and  their  crowd  of 
retainers  with  food-stuff’s. 

Lower,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  of  the  Congo  Balolo  Mission  at 
Ikau.  A. B. I. R.  concession.  Described  to  the  Commission  of 
Inquiry  in  1904  innumerable  outrages  perpetrated  upon  the 
natives  in  1902  and  1903.  Evidence  suppressed.  Published 
by  the  C.  R.  A.  last  year.  Summary  : — 

Natives  flogged  and  shot  for  shortage  in  rubber.  Names, 
dates,  etc.,  given  in  great  detail.  They  are  all  specific  cases,  of 
which  this  is  a type  : “ Went  to  report  murder  of  his  mother  by 
sentries  . . . cruelly  treated  by  sentries  in  consequence.  . . . 
Beaten  by  sentries  during  a two  weeks’  stay  in  prison  ; sent  back 
to  village  ; died  two  days  later.”  Men,  women,  and  children 
given  in  the  lists  of  the  murdered— punishment  for  delay  in 
rubber  production. 

Harris,  J.  H.  ; Mrs.  Harris  ; Padfield,  Charles  ; Stannard, 
Edgar,  all  testified  before  Commission  of  Inquiry  of  atro- 
cities and  general  oppression  and  ill-treatment  antecedent 
to  1904.  Evidence  suppressed,  published  in  summarised 
form  by  C.  R.  A.,  1905. 

Records  in  1904  and  1905. 

1904  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  voluminous  and 
appalling  accounts  sent  home  by  the  missionaries  on  the 
A.B.I.R.  concession,  Messrs.  John  Harris,  Herbert  Frost, 
Edgar  Stannard,  and  Charles  Padfield — all  of  the  Congo 
Balolo  Mission.  Voluminous,  detailed,  and  terrible  narra- 
tives from  the  first  three  named  of  these  gentlemen  were 
published  in  the  C.  R.  A.  organ  for  August,  1904,  and  for 
many  months  to  come  information  was  regularly  supplied 
by  them  to  the  author,  and  supplied  by  the  author  to  the 
world’s  Press.  The  public  is  sufficiently  familiar  with  these 
reports — which  have,  moreover,  been  confirmed  by  the 
Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry — to  absolve  me  from 
quoting  from  them.  It  suffices  to  say  that  they  are  con- 
cerned exclusively  with  the  atrocities  committed  by  the 
A.B.I.R.  “Company”  in  forcing  rubber  from  the  natives  of  the 
country.  At  the  close  of  1905  the  Commission  of  Inquiry 
began  its  ascent  of  the  upper  river,  and  Messrs.  Billington, 

74 


The  Deeds 


Clark,  Grenfell,  Scrivener,  Gilchrist,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harris, 
Stannard,  Ruskin,  Gamman,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lower,  Mr. 
Padfield,  and  Weeks  testified  before  it.  Their  evidence 
was  suppressed ; but  summaries,  in  some  cases  lengthy 
summaries,  were  published  in  1905  by  the  Congo  Reform 
Association.^  On  August  4,  1905,  Sir  Charles  Dilke 
again  brought  the  Congo  question  forward  on  the  Foreign 
Office  vote.  Earl  Percy,  replying  for  the  then  Govern- 
ment, stated  that  Consul  Mackie  was  not  allowed  to  see 
the  depositions  of  the  witnesses,  but  that  he  “ had  sent 
home  extracts  from  some  of  the  evidence  given  at  the  later 
sittings.”  This  report  of  Consul  Mackie’s  was  suppressed 
by  the  British  Government,  and  every  attempt  to  have  it 
produced  has  hitherto  failed  ; an  Incident  which  is  curious 
to  say  the  least. 

Further  evidence  was  supplied  in  the  course  of  1904 
from  other  regions.  Writing  to  the  author  on  May  17, 
Mr.  Weeks  gave  details  of  the  treatment  of  three  prominent 
chiefs  of  his  district  in  connection  with  incidents  arising 
out  of  the  food  taxes.  Two  or  three  chiefs  were  placed 
“ in  the  chains,”  and  died  in  them  from  ill-treatment  after 
a few  weeks’  incarceration.  The  third  was  a fortnight 
“in  the  chains,”  and  was  fined  because  his  village  had 
failed  to  trap  a bush  pig,  part  of  the  fortnightly  tax  levied 
by  the  adjoining  Government  station.  On  May  27th 
Mr.  Scrivener,  in  a letter  to  the  author,  described  another 
journey  into  the  Doma'tne  de  la  Couronne^  peopled  by  some 
wretched  survivors  of  the  rubber  hunting  orgies  in  the 
Lake  district.  He  gave  abundant  details  (as  usual)  of  men 
and  women  shot,  women  tied  up  and  thrown  into  the  river, 
etc.  “ Then  ensued  a series  of  massacres  which  would 
be  incredible  were  it  not  for  so  much  of  a like  character 
that  has  been  proved  only  too  true.  The  district  is  now 
a waste.” 

Mr.  Whiteside,  of  the  Congo  Balolo  Mission,  sent  a 
long  letter  to  the  Belfast  News  (21st  October),  describing 
the  condition  of  the  Lolanga  towns. 


‘ " Evidence  before  the  Congo  Commission  of  Inquiry.” 
2d.  Four  editions  were  published. 

75 


Price 


Red  Rubber 


Much  Italian  evidence  was  produced  in  1905  ; chiefly 
from  the  Eastern  District,  and  led  to  stormy  scenes  in  the 
Italian  Chamber. 

A long  letter  to  the  author  from  a missionary  correspon- 
dent in  the  Katanga  district  also  came  to  hand.  Unhappily 
the  writer  was  terrified — not  unnaturally  from  the  details 
given— lest  his  name  should  appear  ; which  deprives  his 
evidence  of  some  of  its  weight  in  the  public  estimation. 
The  letter  was  published  in  the  C.  R.  A.  organ  for 
September,  1904.  It  describes  the  usual  proceedings. 
Girls  raped  and  carried  off  by  King  Leopold’s  officials  ; 
chiefs  degraded  and  shot ; forced  labour ; oppression  and 
cruelty  rampant. 

A further  memorial  to  Congress  from  the  American 
Missionary  Societies,  dated  January  16,  1905,  contains  more 
evidence  from  American  missionaries. 

Mr.  Charles  H.  Harvey  reports  : — 

“ The  dreadful  form  of  rubber  collecting  has,  among  other  evils, 
introduced  a form  of  slavery  of  the  worst  possible  kind.  No 
man’s  time,  liberty,  property,  person,  wife,  or  child  is  his  own. 
His  position  is  worse  than  that  of  the  sheep  or  goats  of  the  white 
man.  . . . Even  the  dreadful  horrors  of  the  ‘ middle  passage ' 
are  completely  put  in  the  shade  by  deliberate,  demon-like  acts  of 
atrocity.” 

Mr.  H.  W.  Kirby  reports  : — 

“ I have  just  returned  to  Lukunga  after  visiting  our  15  mission 
stations.  The  population  is  decreasing,  and  during  the  last 
twenty  years  has  decreased  very  rapidly.”  The  first  cause  of  the 
decrease  he  attributes  to  “Fighting  with  the  State.”  He  says  : 
“ The  further  away  from  publicity  the  greater  the  atrocities.  I 
have  heard  much.  I could  tell  much,  but  you  know  enough.  A 
white  officer  forcing  a native  to  drink  from  the  water  closet ; 
shooting  down  hand-cuffed  men  ; the  employment  of  fierce 
cannibal  soldiers  that  terrorise  the  people  ; shooting  down  twenty 
men  to  pay  for  a lost  dog.” 

The  judgment  of  the  Boma  Appeal  Court  in  the  Caudron 
case  was  published  by  the  Congo  Reform  Association  in 
May,  1904.  It  showed  the  state  of  affairs  prevailing  in  the 
territories  of  the  Anversoise  Trust  to  be  similar  in  all 
respects  to  that  which  obtained  when  Lacroix  and  his  co- 

76 


The  Deeds 


adjutors  were  performing  their  civilising  deeds;  and  it 
showed  the  complicity  of  the  Supreme  Executive  in  these 
deeds.  {Vide  Section  IV.) 

Letters  from  the  Kasai  to  the  author  disclosed  further 
risings  of  the  natives  against  the  rubber  demands  made 
upon  them.  These  risings  have  since  assumed  larger 
proportions. 

Mr.  T.  Ackermann,  a Swiss,  described  in  a report  sent 
to  Herr  Ludwig  Deuss  (a  highly  respected  merchant  of 
Hamburg,  who  has  laboured  manfully  in  Germany  for  the 
cause  of  Congo  reform),  atrocities  committed  in  1902  and 
1903  at  Flambi,  Fakisuli,  etc.  (Lomami  district).  Each 
case  stated  in  great  detail,  and  some  of  them  peculiarly 
horrible  : 

“ If  the  chief  does  not  bring  the  stipulated  number  of  baskets, 
soldiers  are  sent  out,  and  the  people  are  killed  without  mercy. 
As  proof,  parts  of  the  body  are  brought  to  the  factory.  How 
often  have  I watched  heads  and  hands  being  carried  into  the 
factory.” 

Herr  Duess  sent  a copy  of  the  report  to  the  German 
Government,  and  I transmitted  a copy  to  the  British  and 
American  Governments.  Published,  minus  the  names  of 
individuals,  in  the  Wat  African  Mail^  March  3,  1905. 

1905  was  notable  also  for  the  publication  of  confidential 
circulars  and  regulations  issued  by  the  agents  of  the  A.B.I.R. 
Society  “ Company  ” to  their  agents  ; proving  the  com- 
plicity of  the  Home  Administration  in  the  taking  of 
hostages  and  other  concomitant  of  the  rubber  slave- 
trade. 

Evidenxe  to  Hand  since  the  Commission  of  Inquiry 
VISITED  THE  CoUNTRY. 

No  sooner  was  the  back  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry 
turned  than  the  regime  they  had  described  as  wholly 
“illegal”  and  atrocious  was  again  in  full  swing,  and  con- 
tinues to-day  all  over  the  Congo,  as  it  must  do,  of  course, 

i’ust  as  long  as  England  and  Europe  allow  it.  King 
.-eopold’s  claim  to  the  land,  its  products,  and  its  people 

77 


Red  Rubber 


have  not  been  abrogated,  but  declared  afresh  ; hence  the 
system  under  which  those  claims  are  upheld  has  not  altered 
one  iota,  except,  for  the  worse. 

The  latest  information  may  be  briefly  summarised.  Of 
course,  and  unhappily,  it  only  touches  a tiny  fringe  of  the 
vast  Congo.  For  the  rest,  where  there  are  no  informants, 
the  student  is  thrown  back  for  positive  evidence  upon  the 
admissions  of  the  Belgian  papers.  These  testify  to  a grave 
rising  in  the  Ituri  region,  where  “gold”  has  recently  been 
discovered.  Private  information  received  by  the  author  is 
to  the  effect  that  three  months  ago  troops  were  concentra- 
ting from  all  sides  at  Stanley  Falls  to  deal  with  this  rising. 
French  advices  from  the  Congo  state  that  King  Leopold’s 
troops  have  been  repulsed  with  the  loss  of  two  officers  and 
8o  men.  Belgian  papers  tell  us  that  500  soldiers  are  being 
despatched.  Those  papers  also  admit  risings  on  the  Kasai, 
the  Kwango,  and  the  Busira.  In  short,  the  same  situation 
obtains  as  has  existed  since  the  Decree  of  1891,  which 
inaugurated  the  rubber  slave-trade. 

***■•*■* 

On  January  17,  1905,  Mr.  Harris  writes  to  the  Vice- 
Governor  General — who  committed  suicide  ^ when  the 
Commission  returned  to  Boma  from  their  investigations — 
giving  a long  list  of  atrocities  perpetrated  in  the  Nsongo 
Mboyo  district  which  he  had  just  visited  ; also  the  names  of 
seventy-three  adults  (including  many  women)  and  a number 
of  children  killed  by  sentries  in  that  district.  On  April  4th 
Mr.  Stannard  writes  to  the  author  stating  that  the  Director 
of  the  A.B.I.R.  had  repudiated  the  Commission’s  findings,  and 
intends  to  continue  as  before.  Mr.  Harris  writes  to  the 
District  Commissioner  on  April  loth,  pointing  out  a recru- 
descence of  the  rubber  slave-trade,  giving  details  of  raids  by 
sentries  upon  villages.  Vain  protests  ! Matters  go  on  in 
the  old  way.  Mr.  Stannard,  writing  to  the  author  in  the 
same  month,  says,  “the  devil’s  work  is  in  full  swing  again.” 
Further  letters  from  Harris  to  the  District  Commissioner 


' The  Senior  Governor-General  is  just  now  reposing  in  Brussels 
amid  bowers  of  orchids  and  roses.  Vide  a recent  interview. 

78 


The  Deeds 


describing  the  raiding  of  Bolumboloko,  massacre,  hostage 
taking,  rape,  and  so  on. 

All  last  year,  and  during  the  present  year,  up  to  a few 
days  ago,  the  author,  as  Hon.  Secretary  of  the  Congo 
Reform  Association,  has  been  engaged  in  sending  reports  to 
the  Foreign  Office,^  proving  the  prevalence  of  the  same 
condition  of  things,  and  not  only  from  the  A.B.I.R.  district ; 
but  from  the  river  banks  in  the  Domaine  Prive.  The  journey 
of  Mr.  Whiteside  and  Mr.  Stannard  in  the  Upper  Lomako 
will  be  fresh  in  the  public  mind.  There  have  been  visits  of 
“ High  Commissioners,”  “ Inspectors,”  and  the  Governor- 
General,  since  the  Commission  left  the  Congo.  The  only 
result  has  been  an  aggravation  of  existing  ills  ; the  one  new 
feature,  the  persecution  of  the  missionaries  in  a determined 
effort  to  brow-beat  them  into  silence.  Massacre,  outrage, 
rapine,  the  river  of  blood  flows  on,  and  the  river  of  gold 
flows  in. 

* * * * * 

Since  the  above  was  written,  evidence  has  continued  to 
accumulate.  The  Times  publishes  a long  letter  from  Mr. 
Freshfield,  covering  extracts  of  letters  received  by  him 
from  the  British  and  Italian  expedition  now  exploring 
Ruwenzori,  and  showing  oppression,  misrule,  and  brutality 
in  the  Semliki  region  (N.E.  area : Domaine  Privf).  A 
considerable  amount  of  information  has  reached  me  from 
the  Tanganyika  region  (Katanga  Trust)  proving  beyond 
doubt  the  existence,  with  the  knowledge  and  complicity 
of  the  officials,  of  the  old-fashioned  slave-trade  by  Arabised 
chiefs  protected  by  the  Authorities.  In  the  name  of 
humanity,  will  not  the  German  Government  disclose  the 
reports  it  has  received  from  its  officials  in  East  Africa  on 
this  subject  ? 

Mr.  Charles  Bond  (see  above)  sends  detailed  reports  of 
an  aggravation  of  the  food  taxes  round  Lolanga  since  the 
Governor-General’s  visit. 


' All  the  correspondence  exchanged  between  the  Foreign 
Office  and  the  Congo  Reform  Association  is  sent  to  the  public 
press,  and  published  in  full  month  by  month  in  the  official  organ 
of  the  Association. 


79 


SENTRIES  AT  LOKONGIA  WITH  PRISONER 


< V. 


SECTION  III 

IS  THERE  A REDEEMING 
FEATURE  ? 


7 


I 


THE  ARAB  AND  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC 

“The  Free  State  did  not  flinch  before  its  perilous  task  (the 
destruction  of  the  Arab  power),  and  it  has  reaped  the  fruits  of  its 
energy.” — Descamps,  New  Africa. 

“ The  suppression  of  the  liquor  traffic  with  the  suppression  of 
the  slave  trade  is  the  finest  title  to  glory  which  the  Congo  State 
possesses.” — Report  of  the  Congo  Commission  of  Inquiry. 

What  in  the  face  of  this  history  can  be  urged  on  behalf  of 
the  Congo  Administration  which  shall  be  held  to  extenuate 
in  any  essential  respect  the  havoc  it  has  wrought  ? 

In  an  interesting  article  which  appeared  in  the  Quarterly 
Review  for  January  last,  and  whose  authorship  entitles  it  to 
the  most  careful  attention,  it  is  suggested — after  a generous 
acknowledgment  of  the  present  writer’s  justification  for  his 
charges — that  I have  “ perhaps  stuck  too  exclusively  to  one 
side  of  the  picture,”  that  I have  been  disinclined  to  admit  a 
“ redeeming  feature.” 

That  criticism  struck  me  very  much. 

I had  never  thought  that  there  was  a redeeming  feature 
which  could  be  urged  in  the  same  breath  with  deeds  too 
infamous  to  be  forgiven  by  mercy  itself.  I had  never 
realised  sufficiently  until  I saw  that  article  that  the  matter 
was  one  of  debate.  I have  never  until  this  day  attempted 
to  argue  it.  If  I do  so  now  I beg  the  reader  to  believe  that 
it  is  wholly  from  an  impersonal  point  of  view.  If  the 
Congo  Administration  has  any  virtues  let  them  be  set 
forth  ; by  all  means  let  their  claims  be  proclaimed  and  the 
foundations  upon  which  they  rest  subjected  to  analysis. 

What,  then,  is  the  “other  side  of  the  picture”  ? What 
is  its  relative  value  to  the  side  we  have  gazed  upon  ? 

The  Congo  Administration  claims  to  have  suppressed  the 

83 


Red  Rubber 


slave-raiding  carried  on  by  half-caste  Arabs  ^ in  a portion  of 
the  Congo  Basin  about  one-fifth  the  size  of  the  territories 
over  which  it  now  asserts  dominion. 

The  Congo  Administration  claims  to  have  prohibited  the 
liquor  traffic  in  its  territories. 

The  Congo  Administration  claims  to  have  built  railways, 
put  up  the  telegraph  and  telephone  in  certain  districts, 
placed  steamers  on  the  upper  river,  built  a large  number  of 
“fine  stations,”  and  in  this  manner  established  “civilisa- 
tion ” in  the  heart  of  Africa. 

The  Congo  Administration  claims  to  have  introduced  a 
regular  system  of  “Justice”  in  its  territories. 

Travellers  have  borne  witness  to  the  good  treatment  of 
the  natives  in  specific  areas. 

That,  I think,  fairly  covers  the  ground. 

Some  of  these  assertions  are  true  : some  are  partly  true 
and  partly  false.  Some  are  altogether  false.  Even  were 
they  all  literally  true  and  could  bear  the  test  of  exami- 
nation, could  they  palliate,  much  less  excuse  the 
wrong-doing  of  the  past  fifteen  years  ? 

The  Congo  Administration  extirpated  the  Arab  slave 
dealers.  It  did.®  The  policy  pursued  by  these  semi- 
barbarians was  atrocious.  But  was  it  so  atrocious  as  the 
civilised  barbarism  which  has  replaced  it  ? If  not,  what 
becomes  of  the  virtues  attributed  by  the  Congo  Adminis- 
tration to  itself  as  a consequence  of  its  action  ? 

If  you  knock  down  a foot-pad  who  is  ill-treating  some 
one,  and  after  having  driven  the  aggressor  away,  proceed 
to  deal  more  severely  with  his  victim,  what  claim  have 
you  to  righteousness  ? 

A British  officer — Major  A.  St.  H.  Gibbons — who  has 

' The  Arabs  never  got  further  West  than  the  head  waters  of 
the  Maringa.  It  was  the  Congo  State  Administration  itself  which 
brought  them  as  far  West  as  Stanley  Falls.  Tippoo  Tib  was  King 
Leopold’s  first  governor  of  the  Upper  Congo.  That  was  before 
the  struggle  for  political  supremacy  and  the  ivory  markets,  which 
the  Arabs  possessed,  began. 

“ I thought  it  had  completely  when  I wrote  this  sentence.  In 
point  of  fact,  documents  which  have  only  just  now  reached  me, 
prove  that  the  old-fashioned  slave-trade  is  still  rife  west  of 
Tanganyika  (see  p.  79). 


84 


The  Arab  and  the  Liquor  Traffic 


travelled  through  the  region  where  these  half-caste  Arabs 
formerly  held  sway,  and  whose  references  to  Congolese 
administrative  methods  have  been  in  some  respects  so 
impartial  that  King  Leopold’s  Press  Bureau  has  quoted 
him  in  its  publications^  as  a friend  and  defender,  has  written 
in  this  respect.®  “ To  say  that  the  status  and  lot  of  the 
native  population  has  been  in  any  way  improved  by  the 
Belgian  occupation  seems  to  me  more  than  doubtful.” 
Remember  that  the  above  passage  refers  to  that  part  of  the 
Congo  where  the  Administration  claims  to  have  conferred 
untold  blessings  upon  the  natives  by  delivering  them  from 
Arab  tyranny.  Major  Gibbons  continues  : “ Under  Arab 
influence  the  freedom  of  organised  native  communities  was 
not  interfered  with.  These  people  came  to  trade — to  give 
and  take,  not  to  take  only.  Morally  speaking  I will 
content  myself  here  with  the  bare  assertion  that  the  natives 
are  not  the  gainers  by  the  Belgian  occupation.”  What  a 
tremendous  indictment  of  the  Congolese  position  as  regards 
the  Arab  contention  in  these  few  lines  ! The  Arab  did  not 
take  only.  The  Congolese  official  does,  and  the  natives 
“are  not  the  gainers”  under  the  change.  This  condem- 
nation comes  with  added  force  when  read  with  the  accounts 
issued  by  the  Press  Bureau  relating  to  the  treatment  of  the 
natives  under  Arab  rule.  If  they  are  worse  off  what, 
in  the  light  of  those  accounts,  must  their  condition  be  ? 

No  man  is  probably  more  competent  than  Dr.  Hinde, 
who  served  with  the  Congo  forces  in  the  Arab  campaign, 
to  speak  of  the  characteristics  of  their  occupation  before  its 
downfall,  and  passages  from  his  famous  book  are  also  quoted 
by  the  Press  Bureau  in  substantiation  of  the  claim  to  virtue. 
What  is  the  verdict  of  Dr.  Hinde  ? “Despite,”  he  writes, 
“ their  slave-raiding  propensities  during  the  forty  years  of 
their  dominion,  the  Arabs  had  converted  the  Manyema  and 
Maleba  countries  into  some  of  the  most  prosperous  in 
Central  Africa.”  The  military  and  other  operations  con- 
ducted by  the  Congo  Administration  on  its  eastern  frontiers 


' For  the  matter  of  that  quite  unjustly.  (As  he  has  himself 
pointed  out  in  a letter  to  the  Times.) 

® “Africa  from  South  to  North,”  1904. 

85 


Red  Rubber 


have  necessitated  the  head-carriage  over  the  great  caravan 
routes,  formerly  utilised  by  the  Arabs  to  convey  their  ivory 
to  the  East  coast,  of  a gigantic  mass  of  stores  of  all  kinds. 
One  of  those  great  trade  routes,  that  leading  to  the  western 
shores  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  crosses  the  heart  of  the 
Manyema  country  mentioned  by  Dr.  Hinde  as  one  of  the 
most  prosperous,  under  Arab  rule,  in  Central  Africa. 

What  does  the  Report  of  King  Leopold’s  own  Com- 
mission tell  us  on  the  present  condition  of  the  native  peoples 
in  the  territories  traversed  by  this  route  ? It  tells  us  that 
the  native  peoples  are  “ exhausted  ” through  the  demands 
made  upon  them  for  head-carriage  in  the  transport  of 
Government  material,  and  are  threatened  with  “ partial 
destruction.” 

Captain  Baccari,  the  King  of  Italy’s  envoy,  travelled 
through  that  region  three  years  ago. 

What  has  he  placed  on  record?  “We  have  all  the 
ghastly  scenes  of  the  slave  trade,  the  collar,  the  lash,  and 
press-gang.”  A lieutenant  in  the  Italian  army,  whose 
official  military  records  I have  seen,  and  of  whose  bond  fides 
I have  personally  assured  myself,  has  recently  returned  to 
Italy  after  spending  nearly  three  years  in  this — the  Eastern 
Province  of  the  “Congo  Free  State.”  Like  so  many  of 
his  compatriots  he  entered  King  Leopold’s  African  army 
without  the  faintest  idea  of  its  habitual  tasks,  or  of  the 
nature  of  the  Congo  Administration  itself.^  He  writes  : 

“The  caravan  road  between  Kasongo  and  Tanganyika  is 
strewn  with  corpses  of  carriers,  exactly  as  in  the  time  of  the 
Arab  slave  trade.  The  carriers,  weakened,  ill,  insufficiently  fed, 
fall  literally  by  hundreds ; and  in  the  evening,  when  there 
happens  to  be  a little  wind,  the  odour  of  bodies  in  decomposition 
is  everywhere  noticeable,  to  such  an  extent,  indeed,  that  the 
Italian  officers  have  given  it  a name — ‘ Manyema  perfume.’  ” 

After  fifteen  years  of  “ moral  and  material  regeneration  ” 
d la  Leopold — “ Manyema  perfume  ” ! 


’ The  Italian  Government,  owing  to  the  protests  of  its  officers 
on  the  Congo,  has  prohibited  any  further  recruitment  for  the 
Congo  army  even  among  officers  on  the  retired  list.  None  will 
be  allowed  to  renew  their  contracts.  In  twelve  months  from 
now  there  will  not  be  a single  Italian  officer  on  the  Congo. 

86 


The  Arab  and  the  Liquor  Traffic 


Where  is  the  “ redeeming  feature  ” here  ? 

One  might  add  a very  great  deal  more  in  this  connection, 
on  the  ethics  of  Arab  versus  Leopoldian  slave  raiding  and 
trading.  One  could  point  to  the  fact  that  a brisk  trade 
in  slaves  is  carried  on  to  this  day  by  the  revolted  soldiery 
of  the  Congo  State,  through  territory  which  the  Congo 
Administration  professes  to  control,  with  the  Bihean 
caravaneers  from  inland  Angola.  One  could  point  to  the 
testimony  of  Italian  officers  to  the  effect  that  in  the 
Arabised  villages  of  a portion  of  the  Eastern  Provinces 
“ the  old  markets  for  women  slaves  exist  to-day  as  they 
did  before,”  and  that  the  inmates  of  the  harems  of  Congo 
officers  in  that  province  have  been  bought  and  sold.  One 
could  point,  inter  alia^  to  Consul  Casement’s  Report  and  to 
the  evidence  placed  before  the  Congo  Commission  ot 
Inquiry  showing  that  the  monstrous  demands  for  food- 
stuffs levied  upon  the  natives  in  certain  districts  under 
direct  administrative  influence,  compel  the  wretched  people 
to  sell  their  relatives  into  slavery  in  order  to  meet  those 
demands.!  One  could  recall — as  I have  done — those 
official  circulars  signed  by  the  supreme  Executive,  and  torn 
from  the  abysmal  and  secret  darkness  of  Congo  infamy,  after 
many  years,  by  Monsieur  Vandervelde,  the  Belgian  Labour 
Leader,  fixing  a bonus  payable  to  officials  for  every  man 
captured  and  forced  into  the  Congo  army  and  military 
camps,  so  much  per  head  for  a man  of  a certain  stature,  so 
much  for  every  youth,  so  much  “per  male  child.”  One 
could  assert  and  demonstrate  abundantly  that  the  raids  upon 
villages  by  Congo  officials  and  troops,  to  seize  recruits  and 
labourers  : that  the  raids  upon  villages  by  Congo  officials 
and  troops  to  capture  women — “ delicate  operations  ...  to 
seize  hostages,”  as  the  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry 
puts  it,  to  punish  and  terrorise  communities  short  in  their 
supply  of  rubber,  raids  in  the  course  of  which  massacres 
wholesale  and  atrocities  unspeakable  are  the  habitual 
accompaniments,  constitute  proceedings  indistinguishable 
from  the  raiding  of  Arab  bands.  One  could  prove — did 
not  one  feel  that  the  reader  is  already  sick  with  proof — 


• Africa  No.  i,  1904.  (White  Book.) 

87 


Red  Rubber 


that  the  “Congo  Free  State”  in  its  basic  claims,  practices, 
and  methods  is  primarily  a huge  slave-owning  and  slave- 
raiding corporation,  and  that  compared  with  the  cold 
diabolicism  of  its  policy,  Arab  excesses  extending  over  an 
’nfinitely  smaller  area  were  tame. 

The  slave-raiding,  slave-dealing  Arab  was,  at  least,  con- 
structive. He  destroyed,  but  to  build  again.  He  was  a 
coloniser — a ruthless  one,  but  still  a coloniser  ; witness  the 
huge  centres  of  economical  activity,  of  agricultural  pro- 
duction he  created.  He  belonged  to  the  land  ; he  had 
permanent  interests  in  it.  To  have  played  the  role  of 
mere  destroyer  would  have  been  to  make  waste  of  his 
habitation  and  his  substance. 

But  his  successors,  wielding  absolute  power  in  the 
country,  are  not  attached  to  the  soil.  The  objects  of 
their  employers  in  Europe  are  purely  financial  and  foreign 
to  Africa.  Those  employers  seek  a rapid  accumulation  of 
riches,  and  they  spend  those  riches  out  of  Africa.  Africa — 
the  people  of  Africa — play  no  part  in  the  ends  to  which 
those  riches  are  put.  For  the  preservation  of  the  races 
of  Central  Africa  it  would  have  been  better  if  Islam — 
which,  as  the  leading  authorities  on  Africa,  British  and 
French  admit,  breeds  union  for  mutual  aid  among  the 
black  peoples — had  thrown  deep  and  abiding  roots  among 
the  Bantu  races  of  the  eastern  section  of  the  Congo  Basin. 
It  would  have  given  them  that  co-operation  and  adhesion 
by  which  alone  they  could  have  withstood  the  ravages 
of  the  special  compound  of  slavery  and  “ regeneration  ” 
patented  by  King  Leopold  in  the  name  of  Christianity. 
Civilisation  went  frantic  over  the  cruelty  of  the  uncultured 
Arab  half-caste.  It  has  allowed  the  cultured  European 
to  impose  upon  an  infinitely  greater  number  of  human 
beings  a yoke  more  unbearable  than  the  Arab  laid. 

And  that  yoke  remains. 

% % % % % 

From  the  Arab  to  the  gin  bottle  and  the  demi-john 

of  rum.  The  Congo  Administration  claims  to  have 
prohibited  the  liquor  traffic  in  the  Upper  Congo.  The 
claim  is  untenable.  The  Act  of  Berlin,  it  was,  which 

88 


The  Arab  and  the  Liquor  Traffic 

formally  prohibited  ^ the  importation  of  alcohol  into  the 
Upper  Congo  just  as  it  prohibited  it  in  Northern  Nigeria. 
The  Act  of  Berlin  did  not  prohibit  the  import  of  liquor 
into  the  Lower  Congo,  and  the  Congo  Administration  has 
not  suppressed  it  there,  nor  put  on  duties  as  high  as  in  some 
other  West  African  Dependencies.  The  two  foremost 
Belgian  authorities  on  the  Congo  question — Mr.  A.  J. 
Wauters,  Editor  of  Le  Mouvement  Giographique^  and 
Professor  Cattier,  of  the  Brussels  University — pointed  this 
out  soon  after  the  publication  of  the  Report  of  the 
Commission  of  Inquiry,  in  which  the  Commissioners 
are  made  to  say  that  the  Congo  Administration  deserves 
the  thanks  of  the  civilised  world  for  sternly  waving  aside 
the  temptation  of  paying  its  labour  with  gin.  As  that  fine 
humanitarian  and  excellent  wit — a rare  combination — grand 
chasseur  devant  Vekernel^  Pierre  Mille,  remarks  in  his  and 
Challaye’s  deux  Congas”: 

“It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  Congo  State  does  not  pay  the 
natives  with  a drink  of  brandy  : it  does  not  pay  them  at  all ! It  is 
excessive  to  praise  it  even  for  that,  because  the  Berlin  Act  ex- 
plicitly forbids  the  import  of  alcohol  ! But  no  doubt  the  Com- 
missioners, seeing  that  the  Congo  State  had  violated  all  the  other 
clauses  of  the  Act,  were  amazed  at  its  having  respected  this  one.” 

Apart  trom  the  inaccuracy  of  the  claim  historically 
considered,  the  fusel  oil  of  hypocrisy  is  present  in  larger 
proportions  here  than  in  all  or  nearly  all  the  other  philan- 
thropic protestations  of  the  Congo  Administration.  This 
is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  African  liquor  traffic  with  any 
thoroughness.  Personally  I have  written  against  it  very 


' It  may  be  argued  that  the  Congo  Administration  has  violated 
other  clauses  of  the  Act.  So  it  has,  of  course,  but  always  by  a 
subterfuge.  Thus  it  has  suppressed  commerce  by  appropriating 
the  elements,  which,  in  Central  Africa,  constitute  it.  But  it 
claims  that  those  elements  are  in  esse  the  property  of  the 
Administration,  and  that  trade  is  perfectly  free  ...  in  other 
things  ! But  by  no  conceivable  ingenuity  could  it  have  de- 
clared that  a bottle  of  gin  was,  really,  a bottle  of  eau-de- 
Cologne  : to  admit  of  its  importation  would  have  been  too 
patent  a violation  for  the  most  subtle  of  jurists  to  explain 
away. 


89 


Red  Rubber 


strongly.  But  the  more  one  studies  the  accessible  data,  and 
the  brighter  the  light  which  is  thrown  upon  the  various 
factors  concerned,  the  more  is  the  problem  of  the  liquor  traffic 
in  Africa  as  in  Europe  seen  to  bristle  with  complications 
and  difficulties.  And  without  being  converted  thereby,  one 
is  impressed  with  the  character  and  the  weight  of  conviction 
of  some  of  those  ^ whc  have  opposed  the  general  view  as  to 
the  positive  hurtful  effects  European  imported  liquor  has 
upon  the  primitive  swamp-and-forest-dwelling  communities 
of  West  Africa  ; the  more  one  is  inclined  to  the  belief  that 
the  true  lines  of  reform  are  in  the  direction  of  improved 
quality,  and  progressive  rises  in  customs  duty  whenever 
the  import  is  seen  in  a given  period  to  average  out  above 
its  normal  and  virtually  stationary  figure. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  attempts  of  the  Congo  Admini- 
stration to  wash  away  its  sins  by  dragging  in  (on  an 
historically  false  issue  to  begin  with)  the  liquor  traffic 
argument,  can  only  fill  the  mind  of  an  ordinary  person 
who  knows  somethin?  of  the  facts  with  disgust.  It  is 
better,  it  seems,  for  the  “ regeneration  ” of  the  native  that 
he  should  be  subjected  to  all  the  Congo  Administration 
subjects  him  to,  rather  than  be  allowed  to  spend  a portion  of 
his  earnings  in  the  luxury  of  a drink.  He  has  been  robbed 
of  all  he  possesses  which  is  marketable  against  European  or 
American  merchandise.  He  can  buy  nothing,  neither  drink 
to  drown  in  temporary  oblivion  his  misery,  nor  aught  else, 
for  he  owns  nothing  with  which  to  buy,  and  his  labour 
belongs  to  King  Leopold.  And  the  Administration  which 
has  robbed  him  calls  heaven  to  witness  that  it  has  forced 
him,  with  moral  and  material  suasion,  to  take  the  pledge. 
Similarly  might  the  highwayman  justify  the  rifling  of  his 
victim’s  pockets  lest  the  latter  were  tempted  to  spend  their 
contents  on  liquor  at  the  nearest  inn,  and  by  the  same  pro- 
cess of  reasoning  the  highwayman  could  claim  superior 
virtue  in  knocking  his  victim  on  the  head  as  the  best 
means  of  placing  him,  for  ever,  out  of  the  reach  of 
temptation. 


' Mary  Kingsley  and  Sir  William  Macgrcgor,  for  example. 


90 


I 


II 

1 II 

PUBLIC  WORKS  AND  THE  PRICE  THEREOF 

“What  does  the  native  receive  in  return  for  all  this  taxation? 
j I know  of  absolutely  no  way  in  which  he  is  benefited.  Some 
point  to  the  telegraph.  In  what  way  does  the  telegraph  benefit 
I the  native  ? Those  who  live  near  the  line  have  to  keep  the  road 
clear  for  nothing,  and  in  tropical  Africa  that  is  not  an  easy  task. 
Others  point  to  the  scores  of  steamers  running  bn  the  Upper 
Congo.  In  what  way  do  they  benefit  the  native  ? Here  and 
there  along  the  river  natives  are  forced  to  supply  large  quantities 
I of  firewood  for  an  inadequate  remuneration.  Others,  again,  point 
to  well-built  State  stations.  In  what  way  do  they  benefit  the 
native  ? They  were  largely  built  and  are  now  largely  maintained 
. by  forced  labour.  Then  others  point  to  the  railway.  It  is  a 
splendid  achievement  of  engineering  skill  and  pays  large  divi- 
dends to  shareholders,  but  in  what  way  does  it  benefit  the 
thousands  of  natives  on  the  Upper  Congo  ?” — J.  H.  Weeks,  for 
' twenty-five  years  a missionary  in  the  Upper  Congo,  in  a letter  to 
I the  author,  dated  Monsembe,  December  24,  1903. 

I COME  to  the  third  claim.  The  Congo  Administration 
I has  undertaken  the  construction  of  public  works  and 
buildings.  “Elegant”*  stations  have  been  erected  along 
the  banks  of  the  upper  river.  That  is  quite  true.  No 
, one  has  ever  denied  it.  Some  of  the  public  edifices  at 
Boma  and  Matadi  on  the  lower  river  are  quite  as 
1 substantial  as  those  which  are  to  be  met  with  in  other 
administrative  centres  of  the  West  Coast  of  Africa.  But 
j who  has  paid  for  their  erection  ? The  Congo  native. 


• Vide  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry. 

91 


Red  Rubber 


Whose  labour  is  it  which  has  reared  them  from  the  ground? 
The  labour  of  the  Congo  native.  Whom  do  they  benefit 
now  that  they  are  there  ? 

The  Congo  native  ? The  Congo  native  who  is  “ entitled 
to  nothing”  ? ^ The  Congo  native  who  owns  neither  his 
land,  nor  the  fruits  of  the  soil  (which  he  alone  can  gather), 
nor  his  labour  ? 

If  the  Congo  native  does  not  benefit  from  the  existence 
of  these  fine  buildings  which  his  labour  has  constructed  and 
paid  for  ; if  their  existence  merely  facilitates  the  plunder 
of  his  country  and  the  exploitation  of  his  person  by  the 
occupants  of  them,  in  what  sense  can  their  construction  be 
claimed  as  evidence  of  “ civilisation  ” ? 

To  maintain  such  a thing  would  be  to  make  use  of  an 
argument  which  no  longer  passes  muster  in  the  world.  It 
is  out  of  date  by  two  thousand  years. 

Go  behind  those  fine  stations,  those  camps  of  military 
instruction,  those  Government-run  plantations.  Go  behind 
them  into  the  forest  and  the  bush.  Mingle  with  the  people 
of  the  land.  Witness  their  abiding  desolation,  their  daily 
griefs.  Wander  among  ruined  homes  and  poverty-stricken 
hamlets,  where  once  flourished  prosperity  and  ease.  Look 
how  the  grass  almost  conceals  the  village  paths  once  so 
clear  and  clean  ; weeds  overhanging  the  now  crumbling 
huts ; sud  invading  the  river  frontage  once  filled  with 
cassava  steeping-pits — that  sud  where  the  mosquito  and  the 
tsetse  love  to  breed,  the  purveyors  respectively  of  malaria 
and  sleeping  sickness,  whose  dread  ravages  sweep  increasingly 
through  the  land,  finding  ready  victims  in  a broken-spirited 
and  ill-nourished  people,  broken  by  long  years  of  grinding 
tyranny,  ill-nourished  through  the  workings  of  a system 
which  demands  for  its  multitude  of  agents  the  staple  food- 
stuffs of  the  country.  Where  are  the  stores  of  brass  rods, 
the  numerous  live-stock  which  were  once  the  pride  and 
wealth  of  these  primitive  communities  ? Arbitrarily  seized, 
the  Commission  of  Inquiry  is  fain  to  admit,  as  it  records 
the  “incontestable  impoverishment  of  the  villages.”  Where 
are  the  native  industries  which  once  gave  pleasure  and 


‘ M.  Smet  de  Naeyer,  the  Belgian  Premier. 
92 


Public  Works  and  the  Price  Thereof 


occupation  to  these  people — iron-ware,  brass-ware,* *  rude 
pottery,  basket-making  ? They  have  “ decayed,”  says  the 
report  of  the  Commission — decayed,  as  everything  worth 
preservation  has  decayed  and  withered  beneath  the  breath  of 
Leopoldian  civilisation.  “ It  is  hard  to  tell  how  these  people 
live.”  2 

See  these  men  in  whom  the  very  manhood  seems  stamped 
out  dragging  themselves  back  from  the  bush  at  the  day’s 
end  after  a weary  search  through  partly  submerged  forest, 
knee-deep,  waist-deep  in  foetid  swamp,  for  the  accursed 
juice  of  the  rubber  vine,  that  vine  which  they  must  find 
and  tap  in  all  seasons,  in  all  weathers,  whether  the  sap  is 
rising  or  falling,  always,  ever,  day  after  day  the  year  round 
until  death  in  some  form — by  violence,  exhaustion,  expo- 
sure, or  disease,  or  mere  weariness  and  sorrow — closes  the 
term  of  an  everlasting  and — to  them — mysterious  visitation. 
See  them  at  night  in  the  forest,  far  from  home,  wife,  and 
children,  their  interminable  search  not  yet  over,  huddled 
together  shivering  under  a few  palm-leaves  with  a scrap 
of  fire  in  their  midst.  The  nights  are  cold  in  the  equatorial 
forest.  The  rain  invades  their  scanty  shelter,  and  the 
night-wind  chills  their  naked  bodies  racked  with  rheumatism 
and  fevers,  their  minds  a prey  to  superstitious  fears  in  the 
impenetrable  gloom  made  by  the  giant  trees  and  matted 
creepers  through  which  the  sun  never  pierces,  where 
malignant  spirits  are  abroad — exposed,  unarmed  and  helpless, 
to  the  attack  of  some  roving  leopard. 

What  thoughts  are  theirs  ! In  the  distant  village  wives 
and  children  live  at  the  mercy  of  the  capriciousness,  cruelty, 
and  lust  of  the  armed  ruffians  set  there  by  the  white  man  : 
men  fierce,  all-powerful,  speaking  another  tongue,  tribal 
enemies  perchance,  or  maybe  the  worst  malefactors  in  the 
community,  specially  selected  for  that  very  reason  as  the 
most  fitting  instruments  of  oppression  : men  whose  lightest 
word  is  law,  who  have  but  to  lift  a finger — they  and  their 


' If  you  want  to  see  the  high  level  of  art  to  which  some  of  the 
Congo  races  can  rise,  pay  a visit  to  the  entrance  hall  of  the 
Constitutional  Club,  London,  and  look  at  the  collection  of 
beautiful  spears,  battle-axes,  and  knives  hanging  on  the  walls. 

• Vide  Consul  Casement’s  report. 

93 


Red  Rubber 


bodyguard  of  retainers — and  death  or  torture  rewards  protest 
against  the  violation  of  the  sanctuaries  of  sex,  against  the 
rape  of  the  newly-married  wife,  against  bestialities  * foul  and 
nameless,  exotics  introduced  by  the  white  man’s  “ civilisa- 
tion ” and  copied  by  his  servants  in  the  general,  purposeful, 
Satanic  crushing  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit  in  a people — crushing 
so  complete,  so  thorough,  so  continuous,  that  the  capacity 
of  resisting  aught,  however  vile,  slowly  perishes. 

Out  there  in  the  forest,  the  broken  man  through  the 
long  and  terrifying  watches  of  the  night — what  is  his  vista 
in  life.?  Unending  labour  at  the  muzzle  of  the  Albini  or 
the  cap-gun  : no  pause,  no  rest.  At  the  utmost  if  his  fort- 
nightly toll  of  rubber  is  sufficient,  if  leaves  and  dirt  have 
not  mingled  in  too  great  proportion  with  the  juice,  he  may 
find  that  he  has  four  or  five  days  a month  to  spend  among 
his  household.  If  so  he  will  be  lucky,  for  the  vines  are 
ever  more  difficult  to  find,  the  distance  to  travel  from  his 
village  greater  ; then  the  rubber  must  be  taken  to  the  white 
man’s  fine  station,  and  any  number  of  delays  may  occur 
before  the  rubber-worker  can  leave  that  station  for  his  home. 
Four  or  five  days’  freedom  per  month — that  is  the  very 
maximum  he  can  expect.  Five  days  to  look  after  his  own 
affairs,  to  be  with  his  family,  and  always  under  the  shadow 
of  the  sentry’s  rifle.  But  how  often  in  the  year  will  such 
good  fortune  attend  him  ? Shortage  on  one  occasion  only 
will  entail  the  lash,  or  the  chain  and  detention  ; worse, 
perhaps,  if  the  white  man  has  a fever  or  an  enlarged  spleen 
that  day.  And  if  he  flinches  ? If,  starting  from  an  uneasy 
sleep  there  in  the  forest,  when  shapes  growing  out  of  the 
darkness  proclaim  the  rising  of  another  day,  he  wakens  to 
the  knowledge  that  his  basket  is  but  half  full  and  that  he 
must  begin  his  homeward  two-days’  march  betimes,  not  to 
miss  the  roll-call,  his  heart  fails  him  and  he  turns  his  face 
away,  plunging  further  into  the  forest,  fleeing  from  his 
tormentors,  seeking  only  one  thing  blindly,  to  get  away 
from  his  life  and  all  that  it  means — what  will  happen  ? 

' Sodomy,  publicly  forced  upon  chiefs  or  influential  head-men 
whom  it  was  necessary  to  humiliate  in  the  eyes  of  their  people, 
has  been  resorted  to  in  certain  territories  at  the  point  of  the 
sentry’s  gun.  The  practice  is  unknown  among  the  natives. 

94 


Public  Works  and  the  Price  Thereof 


Well  enough  he  knows.  Has  he  not  seen  the  process  with 
his  own  eyes  ? Father,  mother,  or  wife  will  pay  for  his 
backsliding  in  the  hostage-house.  And  whither  shall  he 
flee  ? The  forest  encompasses  him  on  every  side,  the 
forest  with  its  privations  by  day,  its  horrors  by  night. 
There  he  must  live  seeking  such  nourishment  as  roots  and 
berries  will  afford.  Shall  he  gain  some  other  village  in  the 
hope  that  it  may  be  a friendly  one  ? But  there  will  the 
sentry  be  also,  and  his  doom  as  a “ deserter  ” is  sure. 

I Go  behind  those  “ coquettish  ” centres  of  “ civilisation  ” 
where  the  superior  Congolese  official  drinks,  keeps  his 
' women,  and  superintends  the  shipment  of  the  rubber  in  the 
I river  steamers  bound  for  the  Pool,  the  railway,  and  the 
: ocean  steamers.  Go  behind  those  outlying  “ Posts  ” where 

the  subordinate  Congolese  official  or  agent  of  the  Govern- 
ment-controlled rubber  trusts  lives  in  discomfort  and  solitude 
— unless  his  posse  of  savage  and  often  cannibalistic  auxiliaries 
1 can  be  called  company — eating  out  his  soul,  losing  hold  on 
decency  and  dignity  with  the  months,  harried  by  perpetual 
ji  objurgations  from  the  superior  person  in  the  fine  station 
j for  rubber,  more  rubber,  still  more  rubber, 
i Go  behind  them — those  out-stations — and  in  some  covert 
1 place  near  at  hand  in  a clearing,  surrounded  by  bush,  hidden 
! from  prying  eyes  of  prowling  missionary  or  chance  traveller, 

; you  will  come  across  it.  A small,  low-roofed  building, 

I opening  into  another,  where  a guard  of  sentries  keep  watch 
I and  ward.  This  is  the  hostage-house,  one  of  the  recognised 
i institutions  of  the  Upper  Congo,  like  the  chicotte^  the  collier- 
national — otherwise  the  chain-gang — and  the  matabiche — 
otherwise  the  rubber  bonus.  Inside,  herded  like  cattle  in 
: a pen,  cramped  and  suffocated,  unkempt,  grovelling  in  filth 

I and  squalor — men,  women,  and  children,  chiefly  women. 

, Half-starved,  wholly  starved  at  times — what  a story  the 
records  of  the  Congo  Courts  will  tell  if  a substantial  num- 
ber of  them  are  ever  dragged  to  light ! For  the  pestered, 
unwrought  subordinate  white  man  in  the  out-station,  grown 
' callous,  and  habitually,  almost  unconsciously,  cruel,  has  other 
things  to  think  about  besides  his  hostages  and  their  victual- 

95 


II 


Red  Rubber 


ling.  It  is  as  much  as  he  can  do,  often  enough,  to  feed 
himself  and  his  soldiers.  Taught  by  his  superiors  to  look 
upon  the  people  of  this  regenerated  land  as  brute  beasts  ere 
he  sets  foot  among  them,  the  daily  task  assigned  to  him  has 
bred  a total  disregard  for  human  suffering.  His  mind  has 
become  simply  non-receptive  to  such  ideas.  Rubber  is  his 
god ! His  salary  is  a mere  pittance,  but  every  ton  of  rubber 
from  his  out-station  spells  matahiche^  and  every  month  that 
passes  means  possession  coming  nearer,  and  with  it  release 
from  his  surroundings.  Censure,  if  the  out-put  falls  below 
the  stated  figure.  Praise  and  advancement,  if  he  succeeds 
in  maintaining  or  increasing  it ; . . . and  matabiche.  Rubber 
is  his  god  ! The  natives  are  but  means  to  an  end — and 
them  he  loathes.  Ah  ! how  he  grows  to  loathe  them  ! 
Are  they  behindhand  in  their  quota  ? Then  they  are 
robbing  him : he  who  has  power  of  life  and  death  over 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children  ! Do 
they  tremblingly  urge  that  the  vines  are  exhausted  ? They 
are  defying  him  / He  knows  it,  and  his  fever-haunted 
brain  devises  fresh  measures  for  their  coercion.  He  re- 
reads his  instructions,  couched  in  terms  of  mingled  cajolery 
and  warning,  and  he  hardens  his  heart.  Fevers,  solitude, 
discomforts,  excesses,  the  sense  of  omnipotence  grafted 
upon  an  indifferent  morale  ^ and  pernicious  ideas  inculcated 
by  his  employers,  the  sense  of  mingled  irritation  and  vanity 
excited  by  seeing  fear,  and  the  deceit  born  of  fear,  in  every 
face,  the  iron  chains  of  the  whole  system  of  which  he  has 
become  the  tool,  and,  in  a sense,  the  victim — a system 
implacable,  unalterable,  machine-like,  whose  motive  power, 
controlled  and  directed  with  genius  from  a far-away  Euro- 
pean city,  operates  in  the  Equatorial  forest  with  passionless 
regularity — all  this  has  made  of  him  what  he  is,  what  he 
needs  must  be,  lost  to  all  moral  sense,  impervious  to  emotions 
of  pity  or  compassion. 

" When  an  official  begins  to  realise  the  coulisses  of  the  Admini- 
stration, he  is  stupefied  to  have  fallen  so  low  in  the  social  scale. 
He  cannot  ask  for  his  resignation  because  the  Recueil  adminisiratif 


” The  type  of  Belgian — they  are 
who  goes  to  the  Congo  is  usually  a 

96 


vciy  puui 


Public  Works  and  the  Price  Thereof 


does  not  admit  it.'  If  he  insists,  and  leaves  his  station,  he  can 
be  prosecuted  for  desertion,  and,  in  any  case,  will  probably  never 
get  out  of  the  country  alive,  for  the  routes  of  communication, 
victualling  stations,  etc.,  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Administration, 
and  escape  in  a native  canoe  is  out  of  the  question — every  native 
canoe,  if  its  destination  be  not  known  and  its  movements  chronicled 
in  advance  from  post  to  post,  is  at  once  suspected  and  liable  to 
be  stopped,  for  the  natives  are  not  allowed  to  move  freely  about 
the  controlled  water-ways.  The  official  must  therefore  finish 
his  term,  always  obeying  the  ukases  of  the  Governor-General  and 
the  District  Commissioner,  without  the  hope  of  being  able  to 
make  known  the  miseries  he  is  undergoing  to  the  outside  world, 
because  in  Boma  there  is  a Cabinet  noir^  for  correspondence.”  3 

Look  inside  that  hostage-house,  staggering  back  as  you 
enter  from  the  odours  which  belch  forth  in  poisonous 
fumes.  As  your  eyes  get  accustomed  to  the  half-light, 
they  will  not  rest  on  those  skeleton-like  forms — bones  held 
together  by  black  skin — but  upon  the  faces.  The  faces 
turned  upwards  in  mute  appeal  for  pity : the  hollow  cheeks, 
the  misery  and  terror  in  the  eyes,  the  drawn  parched  lips 
emitting  inarticulate  sounds.  A woman,  her  pendulous, 
pear-shaped  breasts  hanging  like  withered  parchment  against 
her  sides,  where  every  rib  seems  bursting  from  its  covering, 
holds  in  her  emaciated  arms  a small  object  more  pink  than 
black.  You  stoop  and  touch  it — a new-born  babe,  twenty- 
four  hours  old,  assuredly  not  more.  It  is  dead,  but  the 
mother  clasps  it  still.  She  herself  is  almost  past  speech,  and 
soon  will  join  her  babe  in  the  great  Unknown.  “ The 
horror  of  it,  the  unspeakable  horror  of  it.”4 

Every  station,  every  “ post,”  every  “ factory  ” ot  the 
rubber  districts  of  the  Upper  Congo,  and  many  in  the 
food-taxed  districts,  has  its  hostage-house.  The  number 
of  hostages  detained  is  inscribed  upon  registers,  and — so 


’ “ Every  one  knows  that  the  Congo  Government  will  not  allow 
its  officers  to  return  home.” — Signor  Santini,  Deputy  for  Rome 
in  the  Italian  Chamber,  November,  1905. 

” That  is  a Department  which  examines  outgoing  and  incoming 
correspondence.  I have  had  experience  of  that. 

* Letter  to  the  author  from  an  Italian  officer. 

* The  Reverend  S.  Gilchrist  (nine  years’  experience  on  the 
Congo)  to  the  author,  describing  his  visit  to  a hostage-house 

j at  Mampona. 


97 


8 


Red  Rubber 


far  as  the  out-stations  are  concerned — monthly  statements 
on  forms  printed  for  the  purpose  and  entitled,  “ Etat  des 
indigenes  soumis  a la  contrainte  par  corps”  are  forwarded  in 
duplicate  to  headquarters.^  By  careful  reckoning  of  the 
number  of  stations  and  out-stations,  the  authorised  number 
of  hostages  detained  per  mensum  in  each,  and  documentary 
evidence  showing  how  that  number  is  exceeded,  it  has  been 
possible  to  compute  that  ten  thousand  human  beings  pass 
through  the  hostage-houses  of  one  only  of  the  vast  rubber 
preserves  of  the  Upper  Congo  in  a single  year.  How  many 
remain  to  die,  or  leave  them  only  to  die,  is  more  difficult  to 
compute. 

The  hostage-house  is  one  of  the  most  efficacious  assets  of 
the  rubber  slave-trade. 

Sometimes  with  shameless  boldness,  but  with  some 
attempt  at  outward  decency  because  the  site  is  a more 
public  one,  the  hostage-house  flaunts  itself  openly  and  is  a 
more  pretentious  and  commodious  building.  This,  on  the 
premises  of  one  of  the  “ fine  ” and  important  central 
stations.  And  here  you  can  see  the  prisoners  as  they 
march,  roped,  through  the  station  to  the  abode  which  a 
beneficent  Administration  has  caused  to  be  erected  for  the 
purpose  of  stimulating  a healthy  desire  to  work  among  the 
natives  of  Central  Africa.  Slowly  the  procession  winds  its 
way  through  the  station  buildings — officers’  bungalows, 
drying  sheds  for  rubber,  and  so  on.  At  its  head  walk  four 
sentries  fez  on  head,  and  cap-gun  or  Alhini  slung  from 
their  brawny  shoulders.  Behind  them  eighteen  women — 
mothers,  those  whom  motherhood  will  shortly  claim,  maids, 
girls  of  tender  age.  Some  carry  babies,  or  hold  tiny 
children  by  the  hand,  far  who  shall  feed  these  if  left  in  the 
village  behind  ? Faltering  they  come,  casting  fearful 
glances  to  left  and  right,  “ so  terror-stricken  that  they 
cannot  control  the  calls  of  nature.”  ® What  is  their 
offence  ? It  is  an  offence  by  proxy,  and  a very  grave  one. 

' I have  these  documents  in  my  possession.  Vide  also  par- 
ticulars given  in  the  next  chapter. 

“ Letter  to  the  author  from  a correspondent  who  has  seen 
these  familiar  sights  on  the  Congo.  For  further  particulars  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  White  Book,  Africa  No.  i,  1904. 

98 


Public  Works  and  the  Price  Thereof 


The  husbands,  or  the  brothers  of  these  women  have  failed 
to  trap  the  weekly  antelope  required  as  part  of  the  tax  for 
the  white  man’s  table  ; or  their  supply  of  fresh  fish  is  short 
— fish  are  not  always  abundant  in  all  seasons  in  the  same 
locality,  but  the  Congo  official  and  his  soldiers  require  fish, 
and  fish  they  must  have  ; or  the  rubber  has  been  of  bad 
quality  and  insufficient  in  quantity.  It  is  necessary  to  take 
these  measures.  The  husbands  will  require  their  wives, 
and  they  will  trap  the  antelope,  they  will  find  the  fish, 
and  they  will  improve  their  rubber  supply.  They  are  lazy 

that  is  all.  If  they  do  not well  the  women  will  remain 

in  their  pleasant  abode,  fed  generously  by  an  Administration 
full  of  concern  for  their  moral  and  material  welfare.  Should 
delay  prove  exaggerated  and  indefensible,  it  will  be  the 
painful  duty  of  the  official  in  charge  to  send  a number  of 
sentries  to  visit  that  village.  Merely  to  visit  it,  of  course. 
They  will  take  their  guns  ? Yes,  but  for  self-protection. 
These  people  are  wild,  very  wild.  But,  rest  assured,  the 
guns  will  not  be  used  save  under  deliberate  provocation  ; it 
would  be  contrary  to  the  regulations.  Ah  ! of  course, 
if  the  regrettable  necessity  presented  itself — why,  then  these 
poor  brave  sentries  would  have  to  defend  their  lives.  The 
women  in  the  house  of  detention  ? Well,  no  doubt  they 
would  be  very  happy  to  join  the  sentries’  minage.  And 
who  knows?  You  observed  the  fifth  in  the  line,  she  with 
the  brass  anklets  ? No  ? You  English  are  strange  people. 
She  was  pleasing,  quite  pleasing.  “ Distinguished  magi- 
strates ” assured  the  Commissioners  of  Inquiry — says  their 
Report — that  the  detention  of  women  in  hostage-houses 
was  the  most  “humane  form  of  coercion.”  Perhaps  it  is 
on  the  Congo,  for  there  are  many  worse.  But  the 
Leopoldian  conception  of  humanity,  is  the  humanity  of  the 
human  tiger  thirsting,  not  for  blood,  but  for  rubber  which 
presently — when  flung  from  the  hold  of  an  ocean  carrier 
(owned  by  an  Englishman,  plentifully  be-starred  and  be- 
medalled)  upon  the  Antwerp  quay — shall  be  converted  into 
gold. 

Gold  to  pour  into  the  lap  of  some  favoured  friend. ^ 

‘ Vide  the  revelations  published  widely  throughout  Belgium 
during  the  last  few  months. 

99 


Red  Rubber 


Gold  to  be  invested  in  undertakings  “from  China  to  Peru.” 
Gold  to  rear  palaces,  pagodas,  and  monuments  to  the 
Emperor  of  the  Congo  in  Belgian  cities.  Gold  to  pur- 
chase properties  under  brilliant  Mediterranean  skies.  Gold 
to  be  hoarded  in  private  treasure-chests  of  \vhich  none  but 
the  Royal  owner  holds  the  key.  Gold  to  corrupt  con- 
sciences and  manufacture  public  opinion  ; to  disseminate 
lying  literature  throughout  the  world,  even  on  the  seats  of 
continental  railway  carriages. 

I have  stood  on  that  quay  of  Antwerp  and  seen  that 
rubber  disgorged  from  the  bowels  of  the  incoming  steamer, 
and  to  my  fancy  there  has  mingled  with  the  musical  chimes 
ringing  in  the  old  Cathedral  tower,  another  sound — the 
faintest  echo  of  a sigh  from  the  depths  of  the  dark  and 
stifling  hold.  A sigh  breathed  in  the  gloomy  Equatorial 
forest,  by  those  from  whose  anguish  this  wealth  was  wrung. 
They  knew  not  their  merciful  Emperor.  Yet  that  echo 
took  form  of  words  in  my  mind.  “ Imperator  ” — it  has 
seemed  to  whisper — “ Imperator  ! Morituri  te  salutant  ! ” 
(We  who  are  about  to  die,  salute  thee.  Emperor  !)  Perhaps 
it  was  because  thoughts  flew  backwards  five  hundred  years 
when  to  the  sound  of  the  same  gentle  pealing  from  the  old 
Cathedral  tower,  the  ancestors  of  this  same  people,  which 
permits  to-day  its  foreign  monarch  and  his  financial  body- 
guard to  plagiarise  in  Africa  the  infamies  committed  upon 
its  own  citizens  by  the  hirelings  of  another  foreign 
monarch,  fell  in  mangled  heaps  in  the  narrow  streets  of 
this  very  city.  If  there  be  a spirit  in  that  tower  which 
never  dies — as  legend  somewhere  has  it — one  can  picture 
the  cynical  smile  that  flits  across  its  shadowy  features  as, 
contemplating  at  once  the  rubber-laden  quay  and  the 
escutcheon  of  the  city  with  its  severed  hands,  and  thinking 
of  the  Congo  toll — the  toll  of  the  handless  stump — reflects 
of  the  world  and  its  ways,  “ Plus  9a  change  ; plus  c’est  la 
meme  chose.” 

Yes.  Go  behind  those  fine  stations  cemented  with  the 
blood  of  black  humanity,  and  see  into  the  lives,  read  into 
the  hearts  of  the  people.  Witness  the  degradation  to  which 
native  life  has  sunk — that  elderly  Chief  honoured  in  the 
eyes  of  his  subjects,  flogged  and  put  to  menial  tasks,  made 

100 


Public  Works  and  the  Price  Thereof 


to  drink  from  the  white  man’s  latrine.^  In  the  social 
system  of  the  African  native  the  person  of  the  chief  is 
at  once  the  father  of  the  clan,  its  rallying-point,  the  centre 
to  which  it  looks  for  guidance,  the  symbol  of  all  that  the 
clan  venerates  and  regards  as  holy.  The  deliberate  policy 
of  “Bula  Matadi”2  has  been  to  break  down  that  influence, 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  an  influence  for  good,  and  of  course 
put  nothing  in  its  place.  Every  feature  of  indigenous  life 
which  made  for  self-respect  has  been  dragged  in  the  mud 
of  grinding  tyranny  and  foul  imaginings  : natural  instincts 
of  dignity  and  decency  undermined  : indigenous  laws  for 
the  localisation  of  disease  rendered  of  no  avail  through  the 
wholesale  deportation  of  women,  and  the  moving  hither  and 
thither  of  masses  of  soldiery.3  Public  incest  4 as  a pastime 
1 to  the  brutal  soldiery:  things  nameless,  unprintable.  Watch 
that  procession  wending  its  way  through  the  tortuous  bush 
track.  Mourners — sons  carrying  the  body  of  their  father, 
murdered  by  one  of  the  village  sentries  in  a fit  of  caprice,  to 
the  white-man’s  station.  The  slain  man  was  the  chief  of 
i that  primitive  community.  Moreover  he  was  a “ medal- 
li  chief.”  Surely  in  this  case  justice  could  be  secured  against 
J the  assassin.  Impatiently  the  white  man  hears  the  story, 

1 and  bids  the  bearers,  through  an  interpreter,  depart.  The 
rubber  was  insufficient.  It  was  not  the  first  offence.  The 
i chief  was  responsible.  “It  is  enough.”  As  the  men  delay 
somewhat  in  taking  up  their  burden,  he  sets  his  dog  upon 
them.S  Watch,  too,  this  son  of  a murdered  father,  begging 
from  the  murderer,  permission  to  untie  the  body  from 
where  it  hangs  on  yonder  sapling,  and  give  it  decent  burial. 

^ That  permission  will  be  granted  him  eventually,  but  on 
I it  will  be  founded  a further  pretext  for  extortion,  and  a 
goodly  portion  of  the  remaining  family  goods  will  pass  into 


I 

i 


ii 

i 

il 


• White  Book.  Africa  No.  i,  1904. 

“ Native  name  for  the  Congo  Administration.  It  means  the 
breaker  of  stones.  It  should  be  changed  to  the  breaker  of 
hearts. 

3 Vide  in  this  respect,  and  more  particularly,  the  long  report  of 
Mr.  Dugald  Campell  sent  to  the  Foreign  Office,  by  Mr.  Fox 
Bourne. 

^ Evidence  before  the  Commission  of  Inquiry.  3 ibid. 

lOI 


Red  Rubber 


the  sentry’s  hands.  Note  the  gait  of  that  youth  as  he  limps 
painfully  into  the  village  square.  He  is  a fine  muscular 
specimen  of  humanity.  What  ails  him  ? As  he  turns,  the 
cause  is  clear  enough.  Down  his  broad  naked  back  and 
loins,  the  blood  slowly  runs  and  drips  upon  the  ground. 
Flies  are  buzzing  round  his  shoulders.  He  has  been  flogged 
by  the  white  man’s  orders  for  shortage.  Fifty  blows  of 
the  rhinoceros  hide  whip.  He  fared  better  than  Bokoto  of 
Wala,  he  explains  to  his  aged  mother  as  he  reaches  his  hut 
— he  got  a hundred  strokes,  and  had  to  be  carried  away. 

Go  behind  those  “ fine  ” stations,  which  figure  in  the 
illustrated  publications  so  obligingly  scattered  broadcast  by 
the  Press  Bureau.  Get  from  the  lips  of  survivors  the  story 
of  the  “ breaking  ” of  their  village.  The  narration  takes 
you  back  to  the  Middle  Ages,  to  the  exploits  of  the  Spanish 
conquhitadores  in  the  West  Indies.  Go  from  village  to 
village  : from  district  to  district.  Leave  the  rubber  zone 
and  visit  that  fishing  centre  where  the  old  men — the  young 
are  away  getting  in  their  fortnightly  “ tax  ” — will  tell  you, 
in  their  primitive  simplicity,  “our  young  men  have  no  time 
even  to  make  children.  There  is  nothing  before  us  but 
death.”  Get  from  the  lips  of  the  people  everywhere  the 
same  story  of  misery  and  woe  ; here,  when  the  weekly  tax 
in  food-stuflPs  have  been  paid  there  is  nothing  left  but  leaves 
to  eat ; ^ there  the  chant  of  mourning  for  relatives  slain  in 
an  affray  with  the  sentries.  Pass  on  through  swamp  and 
brushwood.  There  is  another  hamlet  not  far  off  and 
from  its  direction  a confused  noise  arises,  quickly  to  be 
distinguished  as  cries  of  terror,  shouts,  execrations.  A man 
dashes  past  you  running  swiftly  down  the  bush  path  you 
are  now  entering.  Seeing  you  he  doubles  back  and  plunges 
into  the  forest.  You  come  upon  the  scene.  It  is  typical 
and  commonplace.  A white  man  in  dirty  clothes  and 
straggling  beard  sits  upon  a stool.  Before  him  stand  several 
soldiers  surrounding,  or  holding  five  women  and  a man, 
whom  the  official  is  angrily  interrogating  through  an 
interpreter.  He  is  taking  the  census  of  the  village,  and 


Evidence  before  the  Commission  of  Inquiry. 
102 


Public  Works  and  the  Price  Thereof 


apportioning  its  “ taxation,”  that  is  all.  Other  soldiers  are 
busy  looting  the  huts,  coming  out  with  armfuls  of  spears 
and  knives,  cutting  down  the  plantations,  or  chasing  with 
loud  shouts  the  villagers  who  have  fled  panic-stricken  to  the 
bush.  Multiply  such  scenes,  such  tales,  such  tragedies  ten 
thousandfold,  and  you  will  only  touch  the  fringe  of  a 
people’s  misery. 

To  men  who  have  lived  among  them  for  many  weary 
moons,  and  whose  existence  would  long  ago  have  been 
intolerable  but  for  their  faith  in  the  Almighty,  to  a man 
who  for  years  has  been  receiving  the  outpourings  of  these 
men’s  hearts  in  letters  and  in  speech,  and  whom  circum- 
stances have  given  an  insight — granted  to  few — into  the 
European  side  of  this  unparalleled  scandal  and  colossal 
human  tragedy,  until  their  hideousness  has  burned  itself  into 
his  soul  and  scorched  it,  there  is  no  “ redeeming  feature  ” in 
the  public  works  constructed  by  King  Leopold  on  the 
Congo,  or  in  Brussels. 

On  the  Congo,  every  mile  of  railway,  every  mile  of  road, 
every  new  station,  every  fresh  stern-wheeler  launched  upon 
the  water-ways  means  a redoubling  of  the  burden  on  the 
people  of  the  land.  First  because  their  labour  and  their 
labour  alone,  supplies  the  needed  moneys  and  the  needed 
muscles.  Secondly,  because  these  material  evidences  • 
“civilisation”  serve  but  one  purpose,  that  of  facilitating 
the  enslavement  of  the  inhabitants,  of  tightening  the  rivets 
in  the  fetters  of  steel  within  whose  pitiless  grip  they  groan 
and  die. 

As  for  the  handsome  edifices  raised  by  King  Leopold  in 
Brussels  with  the  proceeds  of  this  rubber  slave-trade,  I can 
find  no  words  more  fitting  than  those  of  Mr.  Vandervelde 
uttered  in  the  Belgian  Chamber  last  March,  to  characterise 
them  : 

“ I tell  him  that  this  money,  these  profits,  these  presents  are 
shameful  things  because  they  are  the  result  of  the  exploitation  of 
a whole  people.” 


103 


Ill 

JUSTICE  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  CRITIC 

“The  administration  of  justice  in  the  Congo  is  of  such  an 
impartial  and  protective  character,  and  is  so  highly  appreciated 
by  the  natives  themselves  that  they  come  in  ever-increasing 
numbers  and  from  great  distances  to  submit  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  whites”  (sic), — Descamps,  New  Africa. 

The  Congo  administration  claims  to  have  introduced  “Jus- 
tice ” into  its  territories.  Justice!  The  virtue  which 
consists  in  giving  every  one  his  due  ! Clearly,  it  is  not  a 
claim  to  this  sort  of  Justice  on  the  Congo  which  requires 
discussion.  No.  What  is  contended  by  and  for  the 
Congo  State  is  that  it  has  instituted  a judicial  system^  which 
is  a very  different  thing.  A judicial  system  can  be  pure,  or 
impure.  It  can  be  an  instrument  of  protection  to  the 
weakest.  It  can  be  an  engine  ot  tyranny  under  which  the 
weak  are  ground  to  powder  with  every  appearance  of  strict 
legality.  It  is  claimed  for  the  judicial  system  of  the  Congo 
State,  in  that  familiar  and  inimitable  language  of  lofty  senti- 
ment studded  with  rhetorical  flowers,  that  “it  corresponds 
with  the  double  mission  to  be  fulfilled  by  the  Government, 
to  solve  the  essentially  judicial  litigation  which  can  arise  in 
social  life,  and  to  punish  in  conformity  with  the  law  the 
violation  of  social  order.”  ^ 

There  exists  in  the  capital  of  the  Congo  State,  Boma  on 
the  lower  river,  a Court  of  First  Instance,  and  an  Appeal 
Court,  and  there  are  thirteen  territorial  tribunals  scat- 


‘ Descamps,  “ New  Africa.’ 
104 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 


tered  throughout  a country  some  800,000  square  miles  in 
extent.  For  all  criminal  cases  the  Appeal  Court  at  Boma 
is  supreme,  beyond  it  there  is  no  appeal.  The  “Superior 
Council  ” in  Brussels,  whose  members  are  appointed  by  the 
King  and  which  never  meets,  is  theoretically  a Court  of 
Cassation  for  civil  cases. 

The  first  essential  of  a pure  judicial  system  is  a magis- 
tracy independent  of  executive  influence  or  control.  Under 
a rkgime  of  absolute  autocracy  such  conditions  are  unlikely. 
In  the  Congo  State  they  are  obviously  impossible,  and  it  is 
one  of  the  many  amazing  things  in  the  Report  of  the 
Congo  Commission  of  Inquiry  that,  having  seen  the  Congo 
system  at  work,  having  noted  the  breaking  of  the  paper  laws 
of  the  land  by  the  Executive  and  by  individuals  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  their  peregrinations,^  the  Com- 
missioners should  have  pleaded  earnestly  and  strenuously  for 
a magistracy  free  from  Executive  interference,  a plea  which 
has  necessarily  been  rejected  by  the  Sovereign  autocrat. 

The  members  of  the  Congo  Magistracy  are,  from  highest 
to  lowest,  nominated  by  the  King.  The  Governor- 
General  is  the  King’s  “mandatory”  and  the  Public  Prose- 
cutor’s office  is  exercised  under  the  Governor-General’s 
authority.  The  latter  can  stop  prosecution  in  criminal 
cases,  and  can  suspend  proceedings  in  criminal  cases  at  any 
stage  after  they  have  been  instituted.  He  does  so  habitually, 
as  the  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  admits.  It 
could  not  be  otherwise,  seeing  that  the  Executive  itself  is 
the  supreme  violator  of  the  “ law.”  The  Public  Prosecutor 
and  his  assistants  are,  consequently,  the  servants  of  the 
Executive,  that  is  to  say  of  the  Governor-General ; and  the 
judicial  system  of  the  Congo  State  exists  only  to  give  an 
appearance  of  legality  to  what  is  indefensible,  to  invest  the 


'To  take  one  instance,  “forced  labour”  was  applied  by  the 
Administration  for  eleven  years,  illegally,  from  1892,  when  the 
King  drafted  his  famous  decree  requiring  the  “Secretary  of 
State  ” to  “ take  all  measures  which  he  may  deem  necessary  or 
useful  to  ensure  the  exploitation  of  the  products  of  the  Domaine 
Prive,”  until  September,  1903,  when  daily  and  impending  revela- 
tions caused  the  drafting  of  a forced  labour  law,  regularising  its 
application. 

los 


Red  Rubber 


rubber  slave-trade  in  the  eyes  of  Europe  with  the  garb  or 
respectability,  to  make  the  world  believe  that  a legal 
machinery  exists  to  protect  the  native,  when  that 
machinery  is  used,  in  point  ot  fact,  to  minister  to  his 
oppression. 

With  such  a system  the  effective  administration  of  justice 
is,  of  course,  impossible,  and  it  is  not  the  least  of  the  negli- 
gences of  British  Governments,  that  they  should  have  per- 
mitted for  all  these  years,  British  subjects  on  the  Congo, 
whether  white  or  black,  to  be  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Congo  Courts.  Moreover  that  situation  still  obtains. 
Under  it  one  Englishman  was  hung  out  of  hand.  English 
missionaries  are  now  being  harried  for  speaking  the  admitted 
truth  before  the  Commission  of  Inquiry,  and  a very  con- 
siderable number  of  British  coloured  subjects  have  suffered, 
and  doubtless  now  suffer,  the  gravest  wrongs.^  I refer  to 
this  subject  again  in  Section  V. 

There  is  some  little  difficulty  in  conveying  to  the  ordinary 
mind  the  moral  atmospheric  conditions  prevailing  on  the 
Congo.  They  are  so  charged  with  chicanery  and  deceit,  so 
utterly  abnormal  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  that  long 
experience  alone  can  properly  assimilate  them,  and  the 
knowledge  thus  acquired  is  not  communicable  in  a couple 
of  sentences.  One  can  only  ask  the  reader  to  bear  in  mind 
that  the  Congo  State  surrounded  itself  from  the  earliest 
days  with  the  trappings,  not  of  an  ordinary  colonial  under- 
taking, but  of  a professedly  philanthropic  institution,  and 
that  when  it  started  out  on  its  career  of  piracy  and  brigand- 
age— in  1892 — these  trappings  clung  about  it,  forming  a 
raiment  well-nigh  impenetrable  to  criticism.  In  the  suc- 
ceeding years.  King  Leopold,  himself  highly  proficient, 
uniquely  so,  indeed,  in  State-craft  of  a certain  order,  has 
attached  to  his  interests  by  various  means  men  schooled  in 
all  the  subtleties  of  the  law.  Never,  probably,  has  greater 
ingenuity  been  displayed  to  give  black  the  semblance  or 
white — or  at  least  of  grey.  Laws  innumerable  have  been 
drafted,  and  flourished  in  the  eyes  of  Europe,  securing  to  the 


* Vide  Chapter  I. 

106 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 

Congo  native  freedom,  absolute  and  entire,  ensuring  for  him 
such  beatitude  in  this  life  and  such  a quasi-certitude  of 
salvation  in  the  next  that  as  Lord  Fitzmaurice,  speaking  in 
the  House  of  Lords  in  July  last,  wittily  put  it,  “some  of 
your  Lordships  on  leaving  this  House  might  almost  be  dis- 
posed to  take  a ticket  immediately  for  the  Congo.”  The 
torchlight  of  truth  has  finally  succeeded  in  reducing  these 
trappings  to  dust  and  ashes,  but  the  atmosphere  is  not  yet 
rid  of  the  particles. 

So  it  is  that  in  considering  the  judicial  system  of  the 
Congo — which  cannot  be  separated  and  treated  as  a thing 
apart  from  other  sections  of  the  Congo  system — this  factor 
must  ever  be  present  in  the  mind.  When  in  diplomatic 
correspondence,  official  publications  and  in  the  emanations 
from  the  Press  Bureau,  King  Leopold’s  secretaries  and 
scribes  dwell  with  emphasis  upon  “La  Justice  Congolaise,” 
as  though  the  Congo  judicial  system  was  by  them  regarded 
as  the  greatest  proven  tribute  (with  the  suppression  of  the 
Arab  and  the  gin  bottle)  to  administrative  genius,  one  has  to 
point  out  that  the  Congo  Administration  does  not,  and 
never  has  administered  in  any  known  acceptance  of  the 
term.  As  Professor  Cattier  truly  says,  “after  twenty  years 
it  has  not  even  begun  to  administrate ; . . . everything 
must  be  begun  afresh.” 

An  early  duty  of  a civilised  administration  in  tropical 
Africa  is  to  recognise,  uphold,  and  strengthen  where 
required  the  existing  native  courts — the  chief  sitting  in 
council  with  his  elders — the  machinery  for  the  preservation 
of  law  and  order  founded  upon  indigenous  customs  (whose 
essential  justice  and  suitability,  investigation  seldom  fails  to 
reveal).  Bound  up  in  this  a careful  and  constant  study  by 
the  administrative  officials  of  the  laws  and  usages  of  the 
people,  their  practices  in  regard  to  chieftainship,  hereditary 
succession,  marriage,  tenure  of  land  and  other  property, 
their  entire  social  fabric  in  short,  is  the  necessary,  indeed 
the  principal  business  of  the  administration  of  a tropical 
African  dependency.  But  such  trivialities  as  these  find  no 
part  or  lot  in  the  Leopoldian  conception.  They  are  abso- 
lutely foreign  to  it.  There  is  not  a recognised  native  court 
from  one  end  of  the  Congo  territory  to  the  other.  If  you 

107 


Red  Rubber 


speak  to  a Congolese  official  about  native  customs,  laws  and 
what  not,  he  simply  laughs  at  you.  He  has  no  time  for 
that  sort  of  thing.  His  duty  is  to  maintain  the  revenue, 
and  if  possible  increase  it,  if  he  is  stationed  in  one  of  the 
revenue-producing  districts,  and  revenue  means  rubber,  ivory, 
and  gum  copal.  If  he  is  stationed  in  one  of  the  great  food- 
producing  districts,  his  duty  is  to  superintend  the  output, 
distribution  and  despatch  of  supplies,  and  to  see  that  every 
village  within  the  taxable  area  delivers,  fortnightly  or  weekly 
as  the  case  may  be,  its  fixed  quota.  This  is  a task  of  con- 
siderable magnitude. 

There  are  tens  upon  tens  of  thousands  of  soldiers  (and 
their  women  and  retainers),  workmen,  labourers  of  all  sorts, 
etc.,  engaged  directly  or  indirectly  in  different  branches  of 
the  rubber  slave-trade.  They  must  be  fed,  and  the  Congo 
Administration,  unlike  civilised  administrations,  does  not 
import  large  quantities  of  dried  fish,  rice,  and  so  on,  for  the 
consumption  of  its  retainers.  Therefore  those  retainers  live 
on  the  land,  and  as  the  overwhelming  proportion  of  the 
get-at-able  native  population  in  the  rubber  districts  is 
employed  from  January  i to  December  31  in  searching  the 
forests  for  that  article,  the  food  supplies  for  the  great  station 
centres  in  those  districts  (the  out-stations  are  supplied  locally 
and  the  sentries  in  the  villages  look  to  the  village  women 
— not  their  own— to  support  them)  have  to  come  from  a 
distance,  from  other  districts.  When  the  enormous  number 
of  mouths  to  be  fed  is  considered,  and  the  continuous  nature 
of  the  demand,  it  will  be  readily  understood  how  vital  to  the 
working  of  the  system  it  is  that  the  supply  should  be  kept 
up  without  a hitch,  what  dangers  would  be  incurred  if  a 
break  of  any  duration  occurred.  The  Report  of  the  Congo 
Commission  of  Inquiry  points  this  out,  and  states  explicitly 
that  its  remarks  are  of  general  application  to  all  the  great 
station-centres.  It  admits,  indeed,  that  “sometimes  a 
portion  of  the  workmen,  soldiers,  and  prisoners^  are  often 
deprived  of  food  for  twenty-four  hours.”  No  surprise  need 
be  felt  that  the  hostages,  e.g.^  prisoners,  are  “sometimes” 
forgotten  ! It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  an  indispensable 
feature  of  the  rubber  slave-trade  is  the  forcible  maintenance 
of  a considerable  section  of  the  population  under  pressure  for 

108 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 

the  production  of  food-stufFs,  as  unrelaxing  as  the  pressure 
for  revenue. 

Between  these  two  primal  needs — revenue  (e.g.y  rubber) 
and  food,  the  Congolese  official  has  time  for  nothing,  every- 
thing else  lying  outside  the  sphere  of  what  is  really  required 
of  him,  save  in  a few  and  strictly  exceptional  cases  where, 
owing  to  a variety  of  causes,  different  conditions  prevail. 

With  what  does  the  Magistracy  in  the  Congo  concern 
itself  ? In  the  Europeanised  towns  of  Boma  and  Matadi, 
a number  of  trumpery  little  cases  of  litigation — rather 
encouraged  than  otherwise — occur.  In  the  true  Congo — 
the  vast  upper  region  stretching  from  Stanley  Pool  to  the 
Nile  and  the  great  Lakes — there  is  no  litigation  to  speak  ot. 
There  are  no  competing  commercial  firms  and  there  is  no 
room  for  litigation  between  master  and  slave  ! The 
wretched  native  has  been  taught  by  bitter  experience  to 
shun  Bula  Matadi  in  whatever  guise  he  appears  before  him. 
The  Commission  of  Inquiry  sorrowfully  recognised  that  the 
“ evangelical  missionary  ” has  come  to  be  regarded  by  the 
native  as  the  “ only  representative  of  equity  and  justice,”  ^ 
thus  conferring  upon  him  a prestige,  the  Commissioners  add, 
which  “should  be  invested  in  the  magistrates.”  In  the 
“ distinguished  magistrates,”  who  opine  that  to  drag  mothers, 
wives,  and  young  girls  from  their  homes  and  thrust  them 
into  hostage-houses  is  “the  most  humane  form  of  coercion”? 
The  Commissioners  are  silent  on  this  point. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  principal  employment 
of  the  Congo  magistrates  consists  in  dealing  with  the  crimes 
committed  by  Europeans  upon  the  natives  ; in  dealing,  that 
is,  with  the  fatal  and  inevitable  accompaniment  to  the 
system  of  which  the  supreme  local  Executive  is  the  inspirer 
or  rather  the  transmitter  and  applier,  inspiration  emanating 
from  Brussels,  whence  “ comes  every  initiative,”  as  Professor 
Cattier  rightly  says.  If  this  is  the  principal  employment  of 
the  Magistrates,  the  chief  object  is  to  make  an  impeccable 
outward  simulachre  of  stern  activity  compatible  with  securing 
immunity  for  the  criminal.  The  task  is  easier  than  it  sounds. 


' Which  explains  the  laudable  desire  of  the  Congo  Administra- 
tion to  browbeat  him  into  silence. 

109 


Red  Rubber 


for  the  simple  reason  that  there  is  no  publicity.  Out  of  the 
innumerable  judgments  delivered  by  the  Congo  Courts  in 
cases  of  atrocity  during  the  course  of  the  last  decade, ^ no 
complete  text,  and  extracts  from  one  judgment  only,  has 
ever  been  published  in  Belgium  ! It  sounds  incredible. 
It  is,  however,  strictly  true.  The  Government  of  M.  de 
Smet  de  Naeyer  has  been  a very  complaisant  one  for  the 
Sovereign  of  the  Congo  State.  Were  those  judgments 
accessible  to  the  Belgian  public,  now  that  its  eyes  are  partly 
open  to  the  verities  of  this  awful  business,  the  effect  produced 
by  the  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  would  be  slight 
by  comparison.  Only  two  complete  texts  have  ever  reached 
this  country,  that  of  the  Appeal  Court  in  the  Caudron  case, 
and  that  of  the  Territorial  Tribunal  of  Stanleyville  in  the 
case  of  John  Brown,  a native  of  Lagos.  The  former  was, 
and  remains,  with  the  exception  of  the  official  circulars. 
Consul  Casement’s  Report,  and  the  Report  of  the  Commis- 
sion of  Inquiry,  the  most  revealing  document  connected 
with  Congo  affairs,  which  has  ever  seen  the  light  of  day. 
It  was  the  first  official  document — from  the  Congo  side — or 
any  importance  which  we  had  been  able  to  acquire,®  and  not 
only  did  it  show  the  complicity  of  the  supreme  Executive 
in  the  rubber  slave-trade,  but  it  convicted  the  Governor- 
General  himself  of  violating  the  laws  of  the  land.3  The 
other  judgment  is  evidential  of  the  kind  of  “justice”  which 
a British  coloured  subject — even  one  with  Brown’s  excep- 
tional position  and  record  on  the  Congo — can  expect  if  he 
comes  to  loggerheads  with  the  “ superior  official.” 

Hence  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  this  absence 


' As  many  as  forty-five  Europeans  have  been  at  one  time  either 
in  prison  or  under  arrest  at  Boma  on  varied  charges,  from 
“ contravention  aux  decrets  sur  les  armes  a feu  ” {auglice,  arming 
sentries  with  rifles,  which  is  against  the  law),  to  “ mutilation  de 
cadavres  ” (anglice,  hand  lifting). 

® The  secret  circulars  only  became  accessible  later. 

3 “No  argument,”  wrote  Lord  Lansdowne,  with  the  reticence 
of  a statesman  in  office,  to  H.M.  Minister  in  Brussels  on  June  6, 
1904,  “can  be  entertained  to  the  effect  that  acts  of  violence  are 
improbable  or  impossible  under  a system,  such  as  that  revealed 
by  the  judgment  pronounced  by  the  Court  of  Appeal  at  Boma  in 
the  Caudron  case.” 


no 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 

of  publicity  facilitates  very  greatly  the  object  to  which  I 
have  referred.  The  Public  is  informed  now  and  then  that 
numerous  arrests  have  taken  place,  and  that  several  agents 
have  been  sentenced.  The  Press  Bureau  circulates  a 
cleverly-worded  despatch  to  the  Continental  and  American 
journals  affiliated  to  it,  in  which  “ individual  excesses  in- 
separable from  every  colonising  enterprise  ” are  deplored, 
and  the  magnificent  independence  “ notwithstanding  the 
odious  calumnies  of  Mr.  Morel  and  his  gang  ” of  the 
Congo  Magistracy  proclaimed.  There  the  matter  ends,  so 
far  as  the  public  is  concerned.  Of  the  subsequent  fate  of 
these  men — who  are  all  subordinate  agents  from  the  out- 
stations  in  the  bush — nothing  ever  transpires.  I have  been 
able  to  trace  one  or  two,  not  without  considerable  difficulty. 
Their  history  is  a little  diversified,  but  one  characteristic  is 
common  to  all.  After  serving  an  infinitesimal  part  of  their 
sentence  they  come  back  very  quietly  to  Belgium.  Here  a 
mysterious  Providence  ensures  their  keeping  quiet.  Some- 
times a local  job  is  found  for  them.  One  man,  for  instance, 
who  was  a bootmaker’s  assistant  by  trade,  before  being 
given  unlimited  power  over  men  and  women  in  the  Congo 
forests,  was  comfortably  set  up  in  a comfortable  little  shop 
of  his  own.  His  sentence  in  the  Congo  was  ten  years.  He 
served  eight  months.  Another,  who  has  married  and  settled 
down  in  the  haberdashery  line,  was  given  a life  sentence  on 
the  Congo  for  burning  an  old  woman  alive.  A foreign 
appointment — preferably  in  Egypt  it  would  seem — is  rather 
usual.  No  one  knows  of  course  who  the  fairy  godmother, 
or  father,  is  ; but  the  effect  is  potent.  Silence  is  ensured — 
that  is  the  main  point.  I have  received  some  very  curious 
letters  from  Belgium  in  the  last  few  years, some  with  appeals, 
some  with  offers  of  the  most  varied  description.  One  pro- 
fessed to  be  from  the  father  of  a young  Belgian  sentenced  to 
ten  years.  A curious  sequel  attached  to  it.  The  writer 
stated  that  he  had  appealed  to  one  of  the  Congo  State  Secre- 
taries in  Brussels,  on  his  son’s  behalf,  on  the  plea  that  the 
latter  had  merely  carried  out  the  instructions  of  his  superior. 
This  high  official  had  replied  that  a reprieve  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  arrange  just  now  in  view  of  the  agitation  in  England, 
but  he  would  consider  what  might  be  done.  Six  months  had 

III 


I 


Red  Rubber 


passed  since  this  meeting,  but  the  youth  still  lingered  in 
Boma  gaol.  The  writer  added  that  he  had  not  told  the 
high  official  in  question  one  thing.  That  was  that  he,  the 
writer,  possessed  documentary  proof  of  his  son’s  obedience 
to  orders,  in  the  shape  of  a letter  from  his  chief,  an  officer 
of  high  rank  in  the  Congo  army.  Would  I like  to  see 
the  letter  ? I answered  that  it  would  be  very  interesting 
to  see  the  letter,  repeating  in  my  reply  the  name  he  had 
mentioned.  I did  not  expect  an  answer,  and  I was  not 
disappointed.  But  two  months  later  I noticed  in  a published 
passenger  list  of  the  latest  homeward  bound  Congo  mail- 
steamer,  the  name  of  my  correspondent’s  son.  My  letter, 
as  I anticipated,  had  evidently  been  used  to  some  purpose 
with  the  high  official  aforesaid ! 

Does  this  absence  of  publicity  and  the  advantages  it 
entails  for  the  Congo  Administration  mean  that  the  Congo 
Magistracy  must  be  regarded  as  individually  and  collectively 
corrupt  ? Not  at  all.  That,  as  a body,  it  is  innoculated 
with  the  virus  of  the  system,  one  need  seek  no  better 
indication  than  that  afforded  by  the  views  quoted  in  the 
Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  of  some  of  its  “ dis- 
tinguished ” members  on  the  subject  of  women-hostages. 
That  in  itself  is  about  the  most  damaging  revelation  which 
could  well  be  imagined,  especially  when  we  are  told  in  the 
publications  of  the  Press  Bureau  that  the  taking  of  women- 
hostages  is  contrary  to  the  written  law.  I have  a letter 
before  me  from  one  of  the  Assistants  of  the  Public 
Prosecutor  at  Boma,  offering  for  a consideration  the  docu- 
ments which  in  his  capacity  of  Magistrate  he  possesses, 
“ documents  which  would  astonish  the  world.”  The  world 
has  ceased  to  be  astonished  at  King  Leopold  and  all  his 
works.  Truly  the  usual  type  of  European  on  the  Congo, 
whether  fulfilling  the  rule  of  magistrate  or  not,  is  worthy 
of  his  royal  master  ! 

I have  no  doubt  that  there  are  honest  individuals  among 
the  Congo  Magistracy,  and  the  particulars  given  in  Father 
Vermeersch’s  recent  book  throw  a flood  of  light  on  the 
way  in  which  the  honest  magistrate  is  hampered  at  every 
turn  by  the  Executive,  when  engaged  in  gathering  evidence 
for  the  prosecution  of  a European  criminal.  But,  assuming 

1 12 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 


for  the  sake  of  argument  that  every  Congo  magistrate  were 
above  suspicion,  there  would  still  be  a barrier  which  neither 
the  Public  Prosecutor  nor  a fortiori  his  assistants  can  cross. 

The  publication  of  the  Caudron  judgment  ^ and  the 
events  which  followed  it  illustrated  this  very  forcibly. 
That  publication,  as  I have  remarked,  was  a staggering  blow 
to  the  Congo  Administration,  and  King  Leopold  sought  to 
parry  it  by  issuing  a special  Manifesto,  addressed  to  the 
Governor-General  and  calling  upon  the  Public  Prosecutor 
and  his  Assistants,  the  Substituts  or  “ Deputy-Attorneys,” 
to  “ search  for  all  officials,  no  matter  who  they  may  be  ” 
who  had  participated  in  the  particular  rubber-raids  the  scape- 
goat Caudron  had  been  concerned  in.  The  Manifesto 
further  stated  that  “ the  Government  ” (that  is,  the  King) 
“ intends  that  there  shall  be  no  indulgence  shown  towards 
any  of  its  officials  who  may  participate  in  blameable  acts 
towards  the  native  people.”  With  that  nicety  of  expression 
and  enthusiasm  for  righteousness  which  is  impressed  so 
forcibly  on  these  royal  promulgations,  the  Manifesto 
proceeds  to  anticipate  that  “ all  officials  no  matter  who  they 
may  be  ” have  been  triumphantly  dragged  out  of  their 
hiding  places  by  a noble  and  perspiring  Public  Prosecutor, 
and  declares : 

“If  the  constituent  elements  of  participation  do  not  exist,  and 
if  the  prosecution  fails,  it  will  remain  for  the  superior  authority  to 
examine  if  the  agents  of  the  State  whose  administrative  responsi- 
bility appears,  nevertheless,  to  be  implicated  in  these  cases  either 
by  their  acts  or  by  their  inaction,  shall  not  be  the  object  of  disci- 
plinary measures  of  a seriousness  proportionate  to  the  faults  which 
they  have  committed.” 

To  the  uninitiated  this  evidence  of  pained  surprise,  barely- 
concealed  indignation,  and  resolute  intent  on  the  part  of  the 
Emperor  of  the  Congo  conveyed  sincerity,  and  the  Press 


' The  case  had  nothing  unusual  about  it,  at  all.  The  only 
trouble  was  that  the  British  Consul  in  the  Congo — Mr.  Nightin- 
gale I think  it  was — and  myself  managed  to  secure  a copy  of  the 
minutes  of  the  judgment,  and  that,  by  a purely  fortuitous  chain 
of  circumstances.  I hope  the  Consul  will  not  take  it  amiss  from 
me  if  I remind  him  that  I got  my  copy  first ! 

II3 


9 


Red  Rubber 


Bureau  hastened  to  improve  the  occasion.  The  judgment 
of  the  Appeal  Court  was  such,  of  course,  that  had  the 
instructions  in  the  King’s  Manifesto  to  the  Governor- 
General  been  carried  out,  the  first  warrant  of  arrest  issued 
by  the  Public  Prosecutor  would  have  been  against  the 
Governor-General,  whom  the  judgment  clearly  indicated 
for  the  committal  of  an  illegal  act  involving  in  its  train 
cruelty  and  outrage  upon  natives  ! The  next  person  to  be 
arrested  would  have  been  the  District  Commissioner,  i.e.^  an 
official  ranking,  with  two  exceptions,  next  to  the  Governor- 
General.  The  third  would  have  been  the  Officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  Government  troops  who  assisted  Caudron  in 
his  raids  ; then  the  Manager  in  Africa  of  the  “ Company  ” 
whose  servant  Caudron  was,  and  so  on  all  down  the 
scale.  The  prison  at  Boma  would  have  had  to  have  been 
enlarged. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  Magistracy  was 
powerless  to  do  anything  of  the  kind.  Caudron  was 
defended — a rare  occurrence  in  the  Congo — and  the  prose- 
cution did  not,  and,  could  not  deny  that  Caudron  was 
merely  a servant  of  the  Executive  ; that  he  received,  with 
the  consent  of  the  Executive,  which  took  three-fourths  of 
the  profits  derived  by  the  “ Company  ” ^ from  its  rubber 
operations,  3 per  cent,  commission  on  all  the  rubber  he 
secured  ; that  the  “ Company  ” had  no  lands  of  its  own, 
and  was  merely  acting  as  rubber-collector  for  the  Executive ; 
that  its  raids  were  conducted  with  the  open  assistance  of 
Government  officers  and  troops ; that  the  arms  and  munitions 
of  war  utilised  by  the  “ Company  ” constituted  in  itself 
the  proof  that  the  Executive  recognised  the  right  of  the 
“ Company  ” to  employ  them,  since  they  could,  by  law, 
only  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  those  specially  so  authorised 
by  the  Governor-General  ; that  every  rifle,  and  cartridge, 
in  the  possession  of  the  “Company  ” was  passed  through 
the  Custom  House  and  conveyed  to  the  “Company’s” 
station  in  Government  vessels;  that  in  the  year  1903 — the 
year  of  Caudron’s  raids — these  Government  vessels  had  con- 
veyed 40,000  rounds  of  ball  cartridge  to  the  “Company”  ; 


* Caudron  was  an  agent  of  the  Anversoise.  Vide  Section  IV. 

114 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 


and,  finally,  that,  for  the  results  of  such  illegal  raids,  the 
Executive  itself  was  solely  responsible. 

Particulars  of  the  trial  of  the  man  Van  Caelcken — an 
out-station  subordinate  of  another  of  the  rubber  “ Com- 
panies”^— on  December  9,  1904,  which  have  reached 
me,  are  merely  a replica  of  the  Caudron  business.  His 
performances  had  been  denounced  by  the  missionaries. 
They  included  the  seizing  of  women-hostages,  arming 
sentries  2 with  Albinis^  etc.  Van  Caelcken  conducted  his 
own  defence,  in  the  course  of  which  he  made  no  attempt 
to  deny  taking  hostages,  and  produced  as  his  justification 
for  doing  so  a letter  from  his  District  Commissioner,  and 
a circular  signed  by  the  Governor-General.  The  latter 
document  deplored  the  decrease  in  the  rubber  output  from 
the  concession,  and  reminded  the  “ Company’s  ” agents 
that  they  were  entitled  to  exercise  “ bodily  constraint  ” upon 
the  natives.  The  defendant  pointed  out  that  he  was  not 
concerned  with  the  legality  or  illegality  of  such  measures.3 
He  merely  carried  them  out,  as  he  was  bid.  As  for  the 
detention  of  hostages,  there  was  no  secret  about  it,  ana 
every  agent  was  called  upon  to  furnish,  in  writing,  monthly 
lists  of  his  prisoners,  one  for  his  manager,  the  other  for  the 
Executive.  Needless  to  say,  the  penalty  inflicted  upon  Van 
Caelcken  was  not  severe,  and  he  has  long  since  returned  to 
Europe.  Needless  to  say,  also,  that  proceedings  against  the 
Governor-General  and  the  District  Commissioner  for  their 
illegal  instructions  were  not  taken  ! 4 

The  defence  of  de  Tiege,  another  subordinate  agent, 
whose  sentence  of  15  years  by  the  Court  of  First  Instance 


’ The  A.  B.  I.  R.  Vide  Section  IV. 

® These  sentries — why  they  are  called  so  no  one  seems  to 
know — are  irregulars  armed  by  the  “ Companies.”  Consul 
Casement  estimates  their  number  at  10,000. 

3 The  taking  of  hostages  was  authorised  as  far  back  as  1897, 
by  Governor-General  Wahis  in  a letter  to  the  Commissioner 
at  Lake  Leopold  II.,  entirely  contrary  to  law. 

* The  defence  of  the  black  soldiers  on  the  rare  occasions  when 
missionary  exposures  have  compelled  action  is  much  the  same. 
“ Why  do  you  give  me  a rifle,  if  it  is  not  to  shoot  with  ? Why 
am  I given  cartridges,  if  I am  not  to  use  them  ? If  you  tie  me 
up,  why  don’t  you  tie  up  the  white  man  ? ” 

IIS 


Red  Rubber 


was  reduced  to  lO  years  by  the  Court  of  Appeal  in 
November,  1904,  ran  on  much  the  same  lines.  This  case 
was  notable  for  an  incident  which  makes  one  rub  one’s 
eyes  and  wonder  whether  one  is  living  in  the  twentieth 
century.  A favourite  pastime  of  de  Tiege  consisted  in 
forcing  natives,  who  brought  him  badly  prepared  rubber, 
to  eat  it.  The  Court  held  that  the  “ introduction  into  the 
stomach  by  the  mouth  of  an  elastic  substance”  [ingerence') 
was  not  productive  of  after  ill-effects,  and  that  the  sub- 
sequent illness  and  death  of  the  men  who  had  been  com- 
pelled to  eat  the  badly-prepared  rubber  could  not,  therefore, 
be  attributed  to  this.  The  charges  included  other  counts — 
that  of  murder  and  complicity  in  murder — but  the  reduction 
of  the  sentence  was  on  the  grounds  stated  above. 

When  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  entered  the  Maringa 
territory,  they  found  a state  of  affairs  which  dismayed  them. 
Here  were  established  missionaries  who  were  determined  that 
the  Commissioners  should  drink  the  cup  of  horrors  which  was 
their  daily  experience  to  the  dregs.  From  a radius  of  fifty 
miles,  multitudes  of  natives  flocked  to  the  river  side  and  told 
their  stories  of  unspeakable  woe  before  the  visibly  impressed 
Court,  held  on  board  a specially  chartered  Government 
vessel.  Wholesale  massacres,  murders,  torture,  rape,  muti- 
lation, depopulation,  impoverishment,  misery  profound — the 
shameful  tale  flowed  on,  until  at  the  end  of  the  week — 
when  but  a tithe  of  the  tragedy  had  been  unfolded — the 
Commissioners,  sickened  and  appalled,  said  they  had  heard 
enough.  Their  verdict  is  on  record.  Yet  the  Managing 
Director  of  the  “ Company  ” on  the  spot,  directly  respon- 
sible for  this  welter  of  abomination,  was  allowed  to  leave 
the  country  untouched,  while  the  Commission  was  still  in 
it.  The  Assistant-Manager  stepped  into  his  shoes.  The 
District  Commissioner  and  his  assistants  were  not  troubled. 
The  officer  commanding  the  troops  in  the  Concession  was 
retained,  promoted,  and  has  since  been  engaged  in  prose- 
cuting one  of  the  missionaries  for  libel  ; and  one  of  the 
Directors  in  Europe  was  appointed  by  the  King  a member 
of  his  “ Commission  of  Reforms  ” ! The  European 
management  of  that  “ Company  ” includes  the  Grand 
Marshal  of  King  Leopold’s  Court,  and  several  high  Congo 

116 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 

officials.  Its  President  is  a Senator.  The  Congo  Govern- 
ment holds  half  the  shares,  and  the  net  profits  of  the 
concern  in  six  years  have  amounted  to  ^730,000  on  a 
paid-up  capital  of  under  10,000,  each  share  of  a nominal 
value  of  £20  (of  which  the  Congo  Government  possess 
1,000)  having  received  in  that  period  dividends  totalling 

Where  in  history  will  you  find  such  a record,  and  what 
can  be  said  of  the  judicial  system  under  which  such  a 
record  is  established  ? 

We  have  seen  how  the  Governor-General  controls  the 
judicial  machinery,  that  he  can  interfere  in  prosecutions, 
suspend  them,  and  what  not.  Executive  interference  with 
the  “ Law  ” takes  many  forms,  and  is  further  freed  from 
impediments  by  the  abnormal  relations  pertaining  between 
Belgium  under  the  present  Government  (which  has  been 
in  power  for  twenty  years)  and  the  King’s  autocracy  on 
the  Congo.  Everything,  as  I have  said,  connected  with 
the  Congo  is  abnormal.  The  officers  of  the  Belgian  army 
serving  in  the  Congo  army  continue  to  draw  their  salaries 
from  the  public  funds  of  Belgium.  Strictly  speaking,  no 
such  officer  accused  of  committing  crime  on  the  Congo, 
can  be  tried  there.  A Belgian  tribunal  is  alone  entitled 
to  try  the  case,  and  he  should  be  immediately  recalled. 
The  “Congo  Free  State”  stands  towards  Belgium  in  the 
light  of  a “Foreign  Power.”  Its  headquarters  are  in 
Brussels,  true,  but  legally  it  is  non-existent  in  Belgium, 
and  no  tribunal  outside  the  Belgian  Courts  could  sit  in 
Belgium  upon  a Belgian  subject  accused  of  crime  abroad 
without  violating  the  Constitution  of  Belgium.  As  the 
majority  of  the  high  officials  of  the  Congo  Executive, 
District  Commissioners,  Inspectors,  Chefs  de  Zones^  and  so 
on,  are  military  men,  it  will  be  seen  how  important  from 
King  Leopold’s  point  of  view,  as  Sovereign  of  the  Congo 
State,  it  is  that  the  responsibility  for  atrocities  should  not 
be  brought  home  to  them  personally.  In  this  he  is  assisted 
by  the  character  of  the  Congo  judicial  system  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  complicity  of  the  present  Belgian  Govern- 


' For  further  particulars,  vide  Section  IV. 
I17 


Red  Rubber 


ment  on  the  other.  An  interesting  light  was  thrown  upon 
this  aspect  of  Congo  abnormity  by  the  Tilkens  case,  in 
1903.  Tilkens  was  a sub-Lieutenant  in  the  Belgian  army, 
and  a Lieutenant  in  the  Congo  army.  He  was  in  command 
of  one  of  the  sub-posts  in  the  Rubi-Welle  rubber  district,* 
and  secured  in  three  years  40,000  worth  of  india-rubber. 
After  he  had  returned  to  Belgium,  charges  of  atrocity  were 
preferred  against  him  in  the  Congo.  After  consulting  the 
senior  Governor-General,  who  at  that  particular  time  was 
on  leave  in  Brussels,  he  returned  to  the  Congo  to  meet 
them.  Although  his  indictment  included  charges  of  a 
terrible — though  not  unusual — nature,  he  was  let  out  on  bail 
of  ^200.  Convinced  that  he  would  not  obtain  justice  on 
the  Congo,  but  would  serve  as  a scapegoat  for  the  sins  or 
his  superiors,  he  “ stowed  away  ” on  a home-coming  steamer. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  his  departure  was  facilitated  by 
the  local  Executive,  which  was  not  at  all  anxious  to  try 
him.  Upon  his  return  to  Belgium  he  demanded  a public 
trial.  His  demand  was  refused.  He  was  tried  by  default 
on  the  Congo  and  sentenced  to  10  years.  He  thereupon 
handed  his  dossier  to  M.  Vandervelde.  It  contained 
written  orders  from  his  superior  officers  on  the  Congo — 
high  Executive  officials — demonstrating  conclusively  that 
the  usual  pressure  had  been  exercised  upon  him  to  increase 
his  rubber  output,  with  the  habitual  result.  These  M. 
Vandervelde  read  out  to  the  House,  and  rightly  regarding 
this  as  a test  case,  called  upon  the  Belgian  Government  to 
grant  Tilkens’s  request,  for  a trial  in  Belgium.  The 
Minister  responsible  to  the  Department  of  Justice  made 
no  sign,  however.  What  would  have  transpired  at  a public 
trial  ? Tilkens’s  defence  would  have  been  the  plea  of 
military  obedience  to  instructions — required  of  all  soldiers  = 
— which  rendered  atrocities  upon  a population  already 
maddened  by  monstrous  demands  and  only  kept  down  by 
main  force,  necessary  and  indeed  requisite.  The  letters  of 
Commandant  Verstraeten  (see  Section  I.)  would  have  been 
put  in.  In  the  cross-examination  of  this  official  and  his 


' Domaine  Prive. 

‘ His  district  was  under  martial  law,  moreover. 
II8 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 


predecessor  in  office,  Commandant  Meeus,  the  letters  re- 
ceived by  them  from  the  Acting  Governor-General,  M. 
Felix  Fuchs,  and  their  letters  to  him  must  necessarily  have 
been  produced,  and  he  himself  cited  to  appear.  But  this 
correspondence  would  have  been  sufficient,  and  more  than 
sufficient ! It  would  have  had  the  effect  of  the  explosion 
of  a powder  magazine  under  the  edifice  of  moral  and 
material  regeneration.  Responsibility  for  the  rubber  slave- 
trade  would  have  been  traced  to  its  fountain  head. 

Thus  it  is  that  Belgian  officers — Executive  officials  of 
the  Congo  Administration — are  prosecuted  on  the  Congo 
only  when  circumstances  make  prevention  absolutely  im- 
possible, as  in  the  case  of  Lieutenant  Massard,  whose  arrest 
the  Commission  of  Inquiry  itself  demanded  by  telegraph 
to  Boma  after  hearing  the  evidence  of  M.  Scrivener  and 
native  witnesses  at  Boma.^  Thus  it  is  that  not  a single 
Belgian  officer  has  ever  been  sentenced  by  the  Congo 
Courts  save  by  pre-arranged  default.  Thus  it  is  that  not 
a single  Belgian,  even  accused  of  the  most  abominable 
crimes  on  the  Congo,  has  ever  been  proceeded  against  in 
Belgium.  Thus  it  is  that  when  missionaries  denounce  the 
atrocities  of  some  Commandant  or  officer  in  the  Congo 
army,  either  the  accused  party  is  given  a kindly  hint  and 
proceeds  down-river  on  sick  leave  en  route  for  Europe, 
while  with  great  ostentation  a judicial  commission  ascends 
the  river  to  inquire  into  the  charge  ; or  if  matters — owing 
to  the  action  of  some  honest  magistrate — have  reached  the 
stage  when  to  save  the  face  of  the  law  the  officer  has  been 
summoned  to  Boma,  surveillance  is  relaxed  by  “ superior 
order  ” pending  the  examination  of  his  dossier^  and  the 
accused  discreetly  embarks  for  Europe ; or  if  a stage  still 
further  advanced  has  been  reached  before  Executive  inter- 
ference can  be  exercised  with  befitting  secrecy  and  decency, 
the  accused  is  liberated  on  bail,  stows  away — unbeknown 
of  course  to  all ! — and  when  the  same  steamer  reaches  the 
Congo  on  her  next  voyage,  the  face  of  the  law  is  saved  by 
a summons  being  taken  out  against  the  captain  for  harbour- 
ing a passenger  not  noted  on  the  official  passenger  list,  a 


I 


* Lieutenant  Massard  was  acquitted. 
1 19 


Red  Rubber 


fine  of  20  francs  inflicted,  and  a judiciously  edited  report 
of  the  proceedings  finds  its  way  into  the  European  Press 
through  the  usual  channel,  providing  yet  another  example 
of  the  impeccability  of  the  Congo  Courts.  This  judicial 
pantomime  is  not  played  for  the  benefit  of  officers  of  the 
Belgian  army  only.  Officials  of  the  Rubber  Trusts  who 
are  believed  to  possess  incriminating  documents,  are  bene- 
ficiaries equally  with  the  former.  In  one  recent  case,  the 
departure  of  an  official  from  a particular  spot  on  the  upper 
river  synchronised  with  the  arrival  of  an  “ Assistant 
Attorney”  with  a criminal  dossier  concerning  him.  He 
had  left  for  Europe  long  before  the  investigation  was 
complete. 

A final  illustration  ot  the  methods  of  criminal  juris- 
prudence on  the  Congo  may  be  briefly  touched  upon. 
The  native  has  been  taught  by  sad  experience  to  avoid 
the  Congo  Courts  as  a pestilence.  Natives  who  have  been 
induced  by  the  missionaries  to  testify  against  some  official 
have  been  compelled  to  travel  immense  distances,  in  some 
cases  upwards  of  one  thousand  miles,  to  Boma.  There 
they  have  been  detained  for  months — in  the  case  of  one 
recent  batch  for  eight  months — and  there  most  of  them 
have  died,  or  come  back  only  to  die.  Change  of  diet, 
home-sickness — to  both  of  which  the  native  is  peculiarly 
susceptible — coupled  with  neglect  and  lack  of  nourishment, 
have  been  mainly  attributable  for  this  mortality,  deplored  in 
the  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry.  So  disgrace- 
ful has  been  the  treatment  of  native  witnesses  even  at 
Boma,  that  in  a published  communication  to  the  Congo 
Reform  Association,  dated  August  17th  last  year,  Lord 
Lansdowne,  after  referring  to  the  reports  “ of  the  severe 
privations  from  which  these  natives  are  suffering,”  received 
by  His  Majesty’s  Government  from  the  Acting  British 
Consul  at  Boma,  intimated  that  instructions  had  been 
sent  to  that  official  “ to  give  the  native  witnesses  such 
assistance  as  he  properly  can  in  their  efforts  to  obtain 
work  during  their  detention  at  Boma.”  A kindly  act 
very  greatly  to  his  lordship’s  credit.  Thus  from  a senti- 
ment of  ordinary  humanity,  allied  to  a sense  of  philan- 
thropic responsibility,  insomuch  as  the  charges  brought  by 

120 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 

a British  subject  against  a Congo  official  had  led  to  the 
summoning  of  native  witnesses  to  Boma,  a British  Foreign 
Minister  instructed  a British  Consular  officer  in  the  capital 
of  the  “Congo  Free  State”  to  try  and  find  work  for  these 
natives  (in  order  that  they  should  procure  the  wherewithal 
to  feed  themselves),  whom  the  Public  Prosecutor  had  caused 
to  be  conveyed  four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  their 
homes  as  witnesses  for  the  prosecution  in  the  public 
trial  of  a Congo  official  ! These  men  were  the  relatives 
of  victims  of  the  rubber  slave-trade  from  which  the  Congo 
Executive  reaps  millions,  but  that  Executive  could  not  afford 
to  feed  them  while  serving  as  witnesses  on  one  of  its  farcical 
trials  ! 

“ The  mere  word  Boma  terrifies  them.  Thus  at  the  present 
moment  it  is  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  in  many  regions  of 
the  Upper  Congo  to  induce  the  natives  to  testify  before  the 
Courts.  The  inhabitant  of  the  Upper  Congo  summoned  as  a 
witness  flies  to  the  forest.  He  must  be  treated  as  a criminal, 
hunted,  chained  sometimes,  in  any  case  subjected  to  force,  to 
conduct  him  from  his  village  to  the  Court.” 

It  is  not  I who  wrote  that.  It  is  the  Commissioners  of 
King  Leopold.  Personally,  I can  see  no  “ redeeming 
feature”  in  the  “justice”  which  the  Congo  Administra- 
tion has  introduced  into  the  Congo  Basin,  where  impunity 
for  the  guilty  is  ensured,  and  where  the  mere  act  of  com- 
plaining spells  for  the  native  exile  or  death. 

Rather  do  I agree  with  Professor  Cattier,  that  “ it  is 
organised  and  systematic  protection  of  injustice,”  and  I 
fail  for  my  part  to  see  how  any  reasonable  human  being 
can  arrive  at  an  opposite  conclusion. 

I now  come  to  the  fifth  and  last  point,  viz.,  the  state- 
ments of  travellers  and  others,  favourable  to  the  Congo 
State  as  regards  its  treatment  of  the  natives,  which  have 
been  given  to  the  world.  A year  ago  an  extensive  analysis 
of  this  evidence  would  have  been  necessary.  Happily,  it 
is  no  longer  so,  for  the  report  of  the  Congo  Commission 
has  put  the  blatant  section  of  the  Congo  State’s  defenders 
out  of  Court.  We  have  our  revenge  for  the  contumely 

I2I 


T 

Red  Rubber 


they  sought  to  throw  upon  us,  in  the  ridicule  which  the 
Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  has  cast  upon  their 
“ impartial  investigations.”  With  that  class  of  apologist 
and  defender  of  the  Congo  State  British  public  opinion 
has  done  for  good  and  all.  To  recall  their  travesty  of 
facts  would  be  to  do  them  too  much  honour.  They  had 
their  brief  term  of  self-advertisement,  they  succeeded  for  a 
time  in  helping  to  confuse  the  public  mind,  they  delayed  a 
little  the  manifestation  of  the  truth,  and  so  helped  to  prolong 
the  agony  of  a people.  Their  consciences  are,  doubtless, 
satisfied. 

Apologists  and  defenders  of  the  class  which,  producing  no 
evidence,  chose,  for  reasons  best  known  to  themselves,  to 
re-echo  the  mendacities  issued  by  the  Press  Bureau,  or  in 
the  official  publications  of  the  Congo  Administration,  are 
no  better  off.  The  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry 
has  disposed  of  them  also. 

A section  of  the  Catholic  priesthood  and  laity,  especially 
the  former,  which,  in  a measure  quite  sincerely,  saw  in  our 
campaign  of  mercy  an  attack  upon  Catholic  institutions  and 
upon  a Catholic  country,  must  now  be  convinced  of  their 
double  error  by  the  statements  of  the  religious  press  of 
Belgium,  the  debates  in  the  Belgian  Chamber,  and  the 
Report  of  the  Commission.  If  not,  it  must  be  either 
because  these  documents  are  inaccessible  to  them,  or 
because  they  refuse  to  admit  that  they  were  misled.  In 
either  case  further  attacks  upon  the  reform  movement  from 
that  quarter  would  be  deprived  of  raison  d'etre. 

A section  of  Irish  feeling  is  hostile,  and  probably  always 
will  be  hostile.  Men  whose  judgment  is  as  distorted  as 
Mr.  Mackean’s,  who  would  prefer  King  Leopold  to  Lord 
Aberdeen  at  Dublin  Castle,  are  beyond  the  reach  of  argu- 
ment. But  they  do  not  count.  Whatever  feelings  Irish- 
men may  entertain  towards  England  and  Englishmen  in 
the  abstract  or  in  the  concrete,  the  cause  of  Irish  Nation- 
alism has  nothing  to  gain  by  identifying  itself  with  the 
beneficiaries  of  the  rubber  slave-trade.  Distrust,  suspicion, 
even  hatred  of  England,  is  permissible  in  an  Irishman. 
But  love  for  the  Emperor  of  the  Congo  in  the  Irish  breast 
is  an  incongruity.  Moreover  these  Irish  admirers  of  the 

122 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 

Sovereign  of  the  Congo  State  are  destitute  of  evidence.  They 
merely  re-echo  the  absurdities  which  reach  their  hands 
through  the  ramifications  of  the  Press  Bureau.  The  only 
evidence  we  owe  to  an  Irishman  is  the  evidence  of  a gallant 
gentleman  and  man  of  honour — Roger  Casement. 

The  lucubrations  of  certain  Continental  and  Irish- 
American  journals  subsidised  by  the  Press  Bureau  are 
similarly  innocent  of  evidential  value,  and  beneath  dis- 
cussion. 

The  area  of  controversy,  so  far  as  contradictory  evidence 
is  concerned,  is  indeed  narrowed  down  to  a few,  a very  few, 
observers  who  have  journeyed  through  or  sojourned  in  parts 
of  the  Congo  State  not  visited  by  the  Commission  or 
Inquiry,  and  who  have  personally  seen  nothing  to  complain 
of.  This  in  any  case  is  not,  one  may  remark,  a matter 
which  is  in  the  least  surprising.  It  would  be  quite  possible 
to  travel  from  London  to  Stanley  Falls  and  back  again,  and 
observe  little  or  nothing  offensive — particularly  if  you  hap- 
pened to  be  a person  of  some  distinction,  average  superficiality, 
and  no  experience  of  African  conditions.  Travelling  from 
Antwerp  to  Boma  in  one  of  Sir  Alfred  Jones’s  steamers 
you  would  be  perfectly  comfortable,  and  any  unfavourable 
opinions  you  might  have  formed  of  the  bulk  of  the  African 
regenerators  on  board  (especially  if  you  were  conversant 
with  the  French  tongue)  would  be  dissipated  by  the  courtesy 
of  the  higher  officials,  and  the  geniality  of  the  English 
captain.  Arrived  at  Boma  you  would  be  impressed  with 
the  “ fine  buildings,”  the  “ coquettish  ” air  of  this  adminis- 
trative centre,  the  general  signs  of  activity  and  military 
punctiliousness  prevailing.  At  Matadi,  the  termination  or 
your  ocean  journey,  this  impression  would  strengthen  at 
sight  of  the  railway  skirting  the  arid  flams  of  Palabala,  the 
workshops,  the  engineering  establishments,  and  so  on.  A 
two  days’  journey  on  the  narrow-gauge  line  winding  in 
amazing  curves  amid  fine  scenery  would  probably  fill  you — 
and  rightly  so  (I  have  ever  “rendered  homage,”  as  they 
say  in  Belgium,  to  the  perseverant  energy  and  determination 
of  the  Belgian  engineer,  Albert  Thys,  who  constructed 
this  line  in  the  teeth  of  great  obstacles ; it  was  a triumph 
of  individual  skill  and  of  individual  enterprise — it  was  not 

123 


Red  Rubber 


the  Congo  Government  which  built  that  railway,  but  a 
private  company)  — with  admiration.  The  uninhabited 
country-side  might  set  him  wondering,  but  he  would 
probably  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  what  is  now  desert 
was  once  a thriving  and  populous  region,  and  no  one 
certainly  would  enlighten  him.  The  end  of  his  railway 
journey  would  bring  him  to  Leopoldville,  another  centre 
of  considerable  activity — with  many  sternwheelers,  more 
engineering  shops,  churches,  etc.  He  would  not  pause 
to  think  how  its  3,500  inhabitants  were  fed,  and  he  would 
not  be  told  that  the  people  within  a radius  of  sixty  miles 
were  rapidly  disappearing  under  the  crushing  burden  of  the 
food-taxes.^  And  so  on  up  to  Stanley  Falls  in  a Govern- 
ment vessel,  passing  not  a few  “ fine  stations  ” on  the  river- 
side, not  a few  steamers  and  other  tokens  of  “ civilisation.” 
To  return  from  this  digression  to  the  “favourable 
evidence  ” existing.  In  the  Lado  Enclave,  the  strip  of 
territory  on  the  Nile  leased  to  King  Leopold  by  Lord 
Rosebery  twelve  years  ago,  a large  force  of  troops  is 
stationed.  Several  forts  have  been  erected.  The  soldiers 
are  there,  a smart  body  of  men,  mostly  commanded  by 
Italian  officers.  Their  barracks  are  substantial  and  com- 
modious. The  stations  are  well  kept.  Two  British 
officers  visiting  these  Congolese  military  and  political 
posts  have  commented  favourably  upon  their  appearance. 
Their  remarks  have  been  spread  broadcast  by  the 
Press  Bureau,  and  made  the  most  of.  Curiously  enough, 
no  one  in  this  country  had  suspected  the  existence  of  an 
evil  state  of  affairs  in  this  tiny  strip  of  territory  until 
Lord  Cromer’s  scathing  comments  appeared  in  the  White 
Book  of  1904.  Since  then  information  has  reached  me 
from  unquestionable  sources  that  the  history  of  the  con- 
struction of  these  military  edifices  was  characterised  by  the 
usual  proceedings.  The  Foreign  Office  can  throw  light 
upon  it  whenever  it  chooses  to  do  so.  I observe  that 
Sir  Charles  Eliot  in  his  recently-published  volume  speaks 
rather  favourably  of  these  Congolese  stations  on  the  Nile 
and  adds  : “ It  is  generally  said  that  our  officers  can  always 


* Vide  Report  of  Commission  of  Inquiry. 
124 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 

reduce  natives  to  obedience  by  threatening  to  deport  them 
to  the  Belgian  side  of  the  river.  It  is  certain  that  there 
are  no  villages  for  many  miles  round  the  Belgian  stations.” 
In  short,  it  is  quite  possible  to  speak  in  commendation  of 
the  armed  Congo  camps  on  the  Nile  without  affecting 
the  question  of  the  wrongs  of  the  Congo  natives  in  the  very 
slightest  degree  ; and  from  such  commendation  the  Congo 
Administration  is  welcome  to  any  consolation  it  can 
derive. 

What  remains  then,  as  positive  evidence,  favourable  to 
the  Congo  State  ? The  experiences  of  Mr.  Grey  and  one 
or  two  other  Englishmen  in  the  employ  of  the  Tanganyika 
Concessions,  Limited,  which  is  engaged  in  exploiting  the 
copper  mines  of  South-Eastern  Katanga,  and  the,  experiences 
of  Sir  Harry  Johnston,  who  penetrated  thirty  miles  into 
Congo  State  territory  from  Uganda  in  1900,  and  visited 
other  parts  previously.  I need  say  no  more  on  this 
point  beyond  mentioning  that  as  these  lines  are  written 
I understand  Sir  Harry  Johnston  will  be  good  enough 
to  contribute  a short  notice  to  this  volume,  and  adding 
that  the  Congo  Reform  Association  is  proud  to  number 
him  among  its  supporters.  As  for  Mr.  George  Grey’s 
experiences,  his  distinguished  brother,  the  present  British 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  referred  to  them  with 
perfect  frankness  in  the  last  debate  on  the  Foreign  Office 
vote.  He  confirmed  their  favourable  nature,  and  explained 
that  they  were  “carefully  limited”  to  the  “southern 
extremity  of  the  Congo  State,”  where  it  might  be  added 
there  is  no  rubber,  and  where  the  presence  of  a number  or 
Englishmen — and  especially  an  Englishman  known  by  King 
Leopold  to  be  related  to  the  British  Minister  for  Foreign 
Affairs — is  in  itself  calculated  to  keep  excesses  in  check. 

I will  make  a present  to  the  Press  Bureau  of  another 
favourable  piece  of  testimony.  It  comes  from  a missionary 
acquaintance  of  mine,  who,  writing  from  Upoto  in  the 
early  part  of  the  present  year,  states  : “ Happily  Upoto  has 
been  under  the  rule  of  Commandant  Scardino  for  the  past 
three  years.  It  is  no  secret  that  he  is  not  in  accord  with 
Congo  State  methods.  Consequently  Upoto  district  has 
not  been  terrorised  to  such  an  extent  as  other  parts. 

125 


Red  Rubber 


Commandant  Scardino  has  ever  shown  himself  as  inclined 
to  leniency  rather  than  oppression,  and  taxes  have  been 
more  frequently  modified  than  increased,”  I am  happy  to 
print  that  paragraph  concerning  an  Italian  officer  and 
gentleman  who,  like  other  of  his  compatriots,  has  had  the 
breeding  and  the  strength  of  will  to  endeavour,  amid 
great  difficulties,  to  rise  above  the  system  whose  unwilling 
servants  he  and  they  have  been,  and  who  as  a result  are 
detested  by  the  supreme  Congo  Executive  as  much 
as  the  British  missionaries  almost.  Nor  are  such  excep- 
tions wholly  confined  to  Italian  officers.  Captain  Lemaire 
of  the  Belgian  army  is  another,  and  a very  notable 
one.  Poor  Dooms  was  another,  but  he  disappeared. 
The  officials  who  fall  foul  of  the  Executive  are  curiously 
apt  to  disappear  on  the  Congo.  In  the  case  of  Dooms, 
the  agent  of  disappearance  appears  to  have  been  a hippo- 
potamus. The  Danish  Lieutenant  S very  nearly 

did. I I hope  that  officer’s  experiences  may  some  day  be 
published.  He  is  highly  connected,  and  his  story  would 
be  especially  interesting  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  treat- 
ment by  the  Congo  Executive  of  the  foreign  officers  who 
have  accepted  appointments  in  the  Congo  army  under  a 
complete  misconception  of  the  state  of  affairs,  and  who  have 
endured  all  the  indignities,  privations,  dangers,  and  moral 
sapping  which  an  Italian  officer  in  a letter  to  me — after 
describing  “ La  traite  des  noirs,”  the  black  slave-trade — 
rightly  describes  as  “la  traite  des  blancs,”  the  white  slave- 
trade.  These  solitary  exceptions  are  the  one  bright  spot  in 
a sea  of  blackness,  for  all  the  rif-raff  of  the  European  armies, 
the  “lost  souls,”  as  the  Italians  say,  have  been  recruited  by 
King  Leopold’s  agents  to  carry  out  his  infamous  policy. 
Blackguards  were  required  to  perform  that  dirty  work,  and 
the  Congo  Basin  has  been  flooded  with  blackguards,  con- 
verted in  many  instances  to  fiends  incarnate  by  the  tasks 
they  have  been  set  to  do.  Nor  is  it  only  among  army 
officers  that  exceptions  have  occurred.  Who  shall  tell  the 
tale  of  the  miseries  of  the  wretched  Belgian  clerk  or  artisan. 


' The  case  of  Captain  Baccari,  the  King  of  Itaty’s  envoy,  will 
be  present  in  the  minds  of  all. 

126 


Justice  and  the  Friendly  Critic 


ill-bred,  ignorant,  but  with  decent  instincts,  who  has  gone 
out  to  the  Congo  to  the  tune  of  the  Brabangonne^  filled  with 
patriotic  imaginings,  only  to  find  himself  thrust  into  some 
out-station  and  told  to  get  rubber,  plunged  suddenly  into  an 
earthly  hell  ? Missionaries  have  had  such  men  coming  to 
them  half-frantic  after  a few  weeks’  stay,  begging  and 
imploring  their  assistance  ; and  a shot,  self-inflicted,  has 
often  enough  abruptly  terminated  a career  which  in  Europe 
might  at  least  have  been  respectable.  No  one  who  has 
probed  deep  down  into  this  cesspool  of  iniquity  and  naked 
human  passions,  or  who  understands  the  workings  of  the 
monstrous  growth  which  civilisation  has  allowed  to  spring 
up  in  Central  Africa,  blames  the  agents  of  the  system,  but 
tbe  system  itseli.  The  miserable  tools  are  to  be  pitied — 
brutes  as  many  ol  them  are,  the  diclassh,  the  failures,  the 
oflF-scourings  of  Europe.  It  is  the  beneficiaries  that  should 
be  pilloried,  the  modern  slavers  of  Africa  who  sit  at  home 
and  pocket  the  dividends.  Above  all,  that  one  Will — the 
will  of  a megalomaniac — which  controls,  rules,  dominates 
every  wheel  and  rivet  of  the  Machine  ; drunk  with 
absolutism,  impervious  to  every  feeling  of  humanity,  who 
drives  his  daughter  from  her  mother’s  death-bed  ; flaunts 
with  ostentation  the  irregularities  of  his  private  life  before 
all  men,  and  rakes  in  millions  from  the  anguish  of  his 
miserable  African  slaves. 


' The  Belgian  national  anthem. 


127 


BARNEGO  CHIEFS 
Showing  Their  Emaciated  Condition 


1 


.V  - 


■“■li 


SECTION  IT 


THE  BENEFICIARIES 


THE  BENEFICIARIES 


“ Bondage  under  the  most  barbarous  and  inhuman  conditions, 
and  maintained  for  mercenary  motives  of  the  most  selfish 
character.” — The  Marquess  of  Landsdowne  in  House  of  Lords, 
July,  1906. 

“ But  this  labour  which  is  said  to  be  instead  of  a tax  in  the 
Congo  State,  do  we  know  that  it  goes  into  the  pockets  of  the 
State  or  to  the  public  revenue  ? There  are  no  public  accounts, 
and  as  long  as  that  is  so,  and  so  long  as  this  taxation  or  this 
labour  is  levied  by  companies  working  for  private  individuals, 
the  Congo  State  must  remain  open  to  the  reproach  that  it  is 
imposing  not  taxes  but  forced  labour  for  the  purposes  of  private 
profit.” — Sir  Edward  Grey  in  House  of  Commons,  July,  1906. 

“ Let  us  repeat,  after  so  many  others,  what  has  become  a 
I platitude  ; the  success  of  this  work  is  the  result  of  an  autocratic 
government — that  is  to  say,  of  the  prescience  of  a single  man 
guided  by  a single  thought ; it  is  the  work  of  one  sole  directing 
will.” — Alfred  Poskine,  Bilans  congolais. 

’ “To  procure  for  the  sovereign  a maximum  of  revenue,  such 
has  been  the  object  of  administrative  activity.” — Professor  F. 

I Cattier,  Royalist  and  Annexationist,  Teacher  of  Colonial  Juris- 
1 prudence  at  the  University  of  Brussels. 

The  preceding  sections  have  dealt  with  the  history  of  King 
Leopold’s  Congo  enterprise  and  the  deeds  which  have 
, characterised  it,  more  especially  during  the  last  decade,  as 
I the  effects  of  the  system  elaborated  in  the  royal  decrees  of 
I 1891-2  have  made  themselves  felt  with  increasing  force 
I throughout  a steadily  widening  area.  An  examination  of 
I the  arguments  advanced  in  favour  of  that  enterprise,  or  in 
1 extenuation  of  its  offences,  has  enabled  us  to  pass  succes- 
I sively  in  review  the  general  condition  of  the  native  peoples 
j;  under  King  Leopold’s  absolutism,  the  relative  criminality  of 
i the  Arab  ivory  slave-trader  and  the  European  rubber  slave- 

131 


Red  Rubber 


trader,  the  validity  of  the  liquor  traffic  contention,  the 
nature  and  the  working  of  the  judicial  system  introduced 
into  the  country,  and,  finally,  the  value  and  extent  of  the 
positive  evidence  favourable  to  the  treatment  of  natives  by 
Congolese  officials. 

We  have  now  to  consider  for  whom,  in  whose  interests, 
this  martydom  of  the  races  of  Central  Africa  is  being 
inflicted  and  endured,  who  are  the  beneficiaries  of  the 
rubber  slave-trade,  what  is  being  done  with  the  profits 
accruing  therefrom. 

****** 

Before  coming  to  that  point,  it  may  be  useful  to  sum- 
marise in  a few  passages  the  conclusions  of  the  Report  of 
the  Congo  Commission  of  Inquiry  in  regard  to  the  two 
main  direct  causes  from  which  the  miseries  of  the  natives 
spring,  and  as  such  affecting  particularly  the  efforts  made 
n this  country  to  compel  exposure  and  redress,  viz.,  the 
requisitions  in  india-rubber  and  the  requisitions  in  staple  food 
supplies. 

So  far  as  the  rubber  “taxes”  are  concerned,  the  Com- 
mission found  that  “ everywhere  on  the  Congo,  and 
notwithstanding  certain  appearances  to  the  contrary,  the 
native  only  gathers  india-rubber  under  the  influence  of 
direct  or  indirect  force”  (p.  266),  and  made  sundry  allu- 
sions to  what  is  implied  by  the  word  “ force  ” on  the  Congo, 
viz.,  indiscriminate  massacre,  settlements  of  soldiers  in 
rubber-producing  villages,  uncontrolled  and  unhampered  in 
the  execution  of  their  instructions,  taking  of  hostages, 
imprisonment  of  women  and  children,  flogging,  illegal  fines 
and  punishments,  and  so  on.  It  thus  described  the  condition 
of  the  rubber  gatherer  : — 

“ In  the  majority  of  cases  he  must,  every  fortnight,  go  one  or 
two  days’  journey,  and  sometimes  more,  to  reach  the  place  in  the 
forest  where  he  can  find  in  fair  abundance  the  rubber  vine. 
There  the  gatherer  passes  some  days  in  a miserable  existence. 
He  must  construct  an  improvised  shelter  which  cannot  obviously 
replace  his  hut ; he  has  not  the  food  to  which  he  is  accustomed  ; 
he  is  deprived  of  his  wife,  exposed  to  the  inclemencies  of  the 
weather  and  to  the  attacks  of  wild  beasts.  He  must  take  his 
harvest  to  the  station  of  the  Government  or  the  company,  and  it 

132 


The  Beneficiaries 


is  only  after  that  that  he  returns  to  his  village,  where  he  can 
barely  reside  two  or  three  days  before  a new  demand  is  upon 
him”  (p.  192). 

In  other  words,  the  native  in  the  subjugated  rubber 
districts  of  the  Congo  must,  on  the  Commission’s  own 
showing,  under  pain  of  suffering  the  various  methods  or 
retribution  alluded  to  by  the  Commission,  devote  over  three 
hundred  days — under  the  above-named  conditions,  conditions 
obviously  involving  enormous  loss  of  life — per  annum  to  the 
gathering  of  rubber  in  order  to  pay  his  “ obligatory  tax  ” 
either  to  the  Congo  Government  or  to  its  Trusts. 

So  far  as  the  taxes  in  staple  foodstuffs  are  concerned, 
the  Commission  found  that  around  Leopoldville  (pp.  174-5) 
and  “all  the  great  centres”  (p.  177)  the  population  is 
compelled  to  bring  in  every  four,  seven,  or  twelve  days 
considerable  supplies  of  native-prepared  bread,  sometimes 
from  enormous  distances. 

“ As  the  bread  (kwanga)  only  keeps  fresh  for  a few  days,  the 
native,  even  by  doubling  his  activity,  cannot  free  himself  from 
his  obligations  for  any  length  of  time.  Even  if  the  tax  does  not 
claim  his  whole  time,  he  is  perpetually  obsessed  by  the  thought 
of  the  next  near  payment,  which  causes  the  tax  to  lose  its  true 
character  and  to  be  transformed  into  an  incessant  corvee"  (p.  176). 

I 

The  results  noted  by  the  Commission  from  this  “ taxa- 
tion” were  depopulation  (p.  174),  the  abandonment  of  the 
villages  (p.  177),  the  “general  misery  reigning”  (p.  177). 
The  Commission  found  that  the  same  conditions  character- 
ised the  riverine  tribes  “taxed”  in  fish  (p.  179) — the  same 
i recurrent  demands,  the  same  depopulation  (p.  179),  the 
^ same  methods  of  coercion  for  shortage  (p.  180). 

I Beside  these  admissions,  which  are  here  very  briefly 
' summarised,  the  remainder  of  the  report  is  of  secondary 

importance.  They  show  us,  broadly  speaking,  the 
I population  of  the  subjugated  area  of  the  Upper  Congo 

j divided  into  two  great  groups  or  sections,  the  rubber 

I gatherers  and  the  food  suppliers — the  first  the  direct 

I suppliers  of  revenue,  the  second  the  indirect  suppliers  of 

I revenue,  labouring  to  feed  the  army  of  officials,  agents, 

I soldiers  and  their  retinue  (quartered  upon  the  direct 

133 


Red  Rubber 


suppliers  to  compel  the  incessant  output  of  rubber),  and 
to  feed  the  workmen,  labourers,  woodcutters,  station  hands, 
and  others  engaged  in  various  ways  in  handling,  preparing, 
and  shipping  the  rubber  to  Europe.  The  admissions  of  the 
Commissioners  show  us  these  two  great  sections  of  the 
populace  doomed  to  a perpetual  enslavement,  working  out 
their  cruel  destiny  for  alien  taskmasters  without  pause, 
without  rest,  without  hope,  growing  fewer  in  numbers, 
impoverished  and  miserable,  and  subjected  to  inhuman 
punishments.  To  use  Professor  Carrier’s  words:  “The 
impositions  in  rubber  and  foodstuffs  which  weigh  upon 
more  than  half  the  territory — that  is  to  say,  over  an  area 
three  or  four  times  as  large  as  France — subject  the  natives 
to  a well-nigh  continuous  slavery  ...  to  a slavery  more 
severe  than  that  imposed  by  the  Arabs.” 

jK  » * 

Why  P Why  this  enslavement  and  destruction  of  a 
people  ? 

The  same  old  motives  which  from  the  beginning  have 
been  responsible  for  all  the  great  world  tragedies : human 
ambition,  greed,  and  selfishness  ? Yes,  but  let  us  narrow 
responsibility  to  its  just  limits.  To  arrive  at  the  truth  by 
process  of  questioning  is  a sound  method  handed  down  to 
us  by  the  ancients. 

What  in  reality  is  the  “ Congo  Free  State  ” ? 

Is  it  a “ State  ” ? 

The  fundamental  principle  of  a “ State  ” is  the  partici- 
pation of  the  people  of  the  land  in  the  government  of 
their  country.  It  must  be  clear  to  the  meanest  intelligence 
that  the  people  of  the  Congo  “ State  ” do  not  participate  in 
the  government  of  the  country.  The  people  of  the  Congo 
are  divided  into  a number  of  separate  communities  and 
tribes,  and  there  has  been  no  attempt  to  weld  together  into 
one  state-form  any  of  these  communities  or  tribes.  Hence 
the  word  “ State  ” in  connection  with  the  Congo  enter- 
prise is  a complete  misnomer. 

Is  it  an  African  Protectorate  or  a Dependency  ? 

An  African  Protectorate  or  Dependency  implies  the 
establishment  or  over-lordship  by  a European  nation  in  a 

134 


The  Beneficiaries 


portion  of  Africa,  for  its  protection  against  external 
aggression,  and  for  its  internal  administration  through  the 
development  of  the  country  in  the  interests  of  the  people  of 
the  land  and  of  the  European  nation  which  has  assumed 
over-lordship.  No  European  nation  has  assumed  over- 
lordship of  the  Congo,  but,  with  the  assent  of  the  Powers,  a 
single  man.  King  Leopold  II.  of  Belgium,  attributed  to 
himself  the  title  of  “ Sovereign  ” over  the  communities  and 
tribes  of  the  Congo  basin.  The  country  is  not  being 
developed  in  the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  land,  nor  in 
the  interests  of  a European  nation.  Hence  the  Congo 
enterprise  is  neither  Protectorate  nor  Dependency. 

Then  what  is  the  Congo  enterprise  ? 

It  has  no  precedent : nothing  with  which  it  can  be 
compared.  It  is  unique.  Its  component  parts  are  : 

I.  A European  King  (monarch  of  a small  European  State 
whose  neutrality  was  guaranteed  by  the  Powers)  who 
claims  sovereignty  over  twenty  millions  of  negroes  in 
Central  Africa. 

II.  A staflF  of  Executive  officials  who  direct  the 
exercise  of  that  Sovereignty  from  a European  capital. 

III.  A staff  of  Executive  officials  who  exercise  that 
sovereignty  in  Central  Africa  through 

IV.  A considerable  force  of  native  troops,  workmen  and 
labourers. 

What  interpretation  has  the  Sovereign  given  to  his  claim 
of  sovereignty  over  those  twenty  millions  of  African  men, 
women,  and  children  ? 

He  has  interpreted — without  the  consent  of  the  Powers 
— the  word  sovereignty  to  mean  possession. 

How  has  he  interpreted  the  word  possession  ? 

He  has  interpreted  it  by  an  immense  appropriation  and 
expropriation.  He  has  interpreted  it  by  conveyancing  the 
land  of  these  twenty  millions  of  negroes  to  himself,  and 
all  vegetable  and  mineral  products  which  that  land  contains. 
This  gigantic  property  he  has  divided  into  various  parts  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  and  classifying  its  revenues.  One 
part  he  has  set  aside  to  provide  the  sums  necessary  for  the 
remuneration  of  the  Executive  staff  in  Brussels  and  on  the 
Congo,  the  construction  of  dwelling-places  for  the  staff  pn 

135 


Red  Rubber 


f 


the  Congo,  the  construction  of  public  works  and  other 
undertakings  required  to  ensure  the  working  of  the 
property.  This  part  of  the  property  (A)  he  has  called 
Domaine  Prive^  which  by  a recent  manifesto  he  has 
altered  with  fine  irony  into  Domaine  National.  Another 
part  (B)  he  has  handed  over  for  stewardship,  on 
various  terms,  to  financiers  from  whom  he  has  borrowed 
money,  or  to  personal  friends  and  officials  of  his 
European  Court ; these,  with  his  assistance,  have  raised 
capital  to  work  the  property  thus  entrusted  to  them,  and 
formed  “ Companies  ” which  they  have  floated  on  the 
Belgian  Stock  Exchange : in  these  “ Companies  ” the 
Sovereign  holds  shares,  usually  one-half  the  total  number 
issued.  A third  part  (C)  he  has  declared  inalienable  from 
himself  and  his  heirs  for  ever  : its  revenues  accrue  to  him. 
This  part  is  termed  Domaine  de  la  Couronne. 

Of  what  do  the  assets,  or  the  revenues  of  this  property 
consist  ? 

They  consist  ( i ) or  the  produce  of  the  soil  which  has 
commercial  value  on  the  European  markets  after  paying 
expense  of  handling  and  transport;  (2)  the  people  of  the 
land.  The  climate  of  the  Congo  being  wbat  it  is,  the 
produce  of  the  soil  is  only  obtainable  by  the  people  of  the 
land,  and  the  conveyancing  of  the  former  by  the  sovereign 
to  himself  would  have  been  but  a meaningless  operation 
without  the  services  of  the  people. 

And  how  are  the  services  of  the  people  secured  ? 

The  Commission  of  Inquiry  has  told  us — by  “ Force,” 
and  force  spells,  in  practice,  as  the  Commission  of  Inquiry 
has  also  told  us,  and  as  the  evidence  we  have  produced 
shows  us,  the  enslavement  and  destruction  of  the  people 
of  the  land. 

The  “ Congo  Free  State  ” is,  therefore,  not  a State,  nor 
an  African  Protectorate  or  Dependency,  but  an  estate  in 
Africa  covering  nearly  one  million  square  miles,  and 
inhabited  by  perhaps  twenty  million  human  beings.  This 
estate  is  claimed  by  one  man — although  he  has  never  set 
foot  in  it — living  in  Europe,  as  his  exclusive  property,  he 
having  dispossessed  the  native  inhabitants  of  their  land,  and 
the  produce  of  the  land  which  they  alone  can  gather,  and 

136 


The  Beneficiaries 


enslaved  them  in  their  homes  to  collect  that  produce  for 
himself,  and  generally  to  work  his  property  for  him. 

And  I beg  you  to  recollect  that  we  are  not  living  in  the 
times  of  the  Pharaohs,  but  have  entered  the  twentieth 
century  of  the  Christian  era. 

****** 

From  henceforth  let  us  dismiss  from  our  minds,  our 
speech  and  our  writings,  the  idea  that  the  administration, 
or  the  maladministration,  of  an  African  “ State  ” or 
Dependency  is  in  question.  King  Leopold  is  the  “ State,” 
and  King  Leopold,  absentee  landlord  of  a vast  African 
property,  is  alone  in  question. 

Above  all,  let  us  refrain  from  referring  to  the  Congo  as  a 
Belgian  Colony,  let  us  avoid  writing  of  “ Belgian  misrule,” 
and  let  us  keep  from  saddling  the  Belgian  people  with 
responsibility  which  is  not  theirs,  save  morally,  and  in  that 
respect  only  a few  degrees  more  so  than  it  is  of  the  British 
and  American  peoples. 

Until  the  report  of  the  Congo  Commission  ot  Inquiry 
appeared — after  eight  months’  procrastination — shorn  of  all 
the  evidence  placed  before  it  ^ the  Sovereign  of  the  Congo 
enterprise  had  with  considerable  skill  manipulated  Belgian 
public  opinion  entirely  in  his  favour.  Foreign  criticisms 
directed  against  his  enterprise  had  been  invariably  repre- 
sented as  an  attack  upon  the  Belgian  people,  and  the 
scandals  of  that  enterprise  sheltered  in  the  folds  of  the 

• Lest  the  wicked  Mr.  Morel  should  make  good  use  of  it ! “ He 
(M.  de  Cuvelier,  King  Leopold’s  principal  Secretary  in  Brussels) 
seemed  to  think  that  the  renewed  demand  for  publication  had 
been  suggested  to  you  (Sir  E.  Grey)  with  some  such  sinister 
design  by  the  Congo  Reform  Association.” — Sir  A.  Hardinge, 
British  Minister  in  Brussels  to  Sir  E.  Grey,  March  29  1906. 
“ Allow  me  to  remind  you  that  the  step  taken  by  Sir  Constantine 
Phipps  (Sir  A.  Hardinge’s  predecessor)  on  January  ii  last 
followed  close  upon  the  letter  Mr.  Morel  addressed  to  the  Foreign 
Office,  ‘ to  suggest  that  pressure  should  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  Congo  Government  to  give  full  publicity  to  the  evidence  laid 
before  its  own  Commission,’  and  I cannot  but  believe  that  that 
suggestion,  coming  from  Mr.  Morel,  whose  role  is  known  to  you, 
was  aimed  at  the  Congo  State.” — M.  de  Cuvelier  to  Sir  A. 
Hardinge.  April  19,  1906.  White  Book,  June,  1906. 

137 


Red  Rubber 


Belgian  flag  and  beneath  the  cloak  of  Belgian  patriotism. 
The  Press  Bureau  persistently  fanned  this  legend,  and  as 
nearly  all  the  Belgian  newspapers  were  influenced  by  it, 
and  the  Belgian  people  largely  ignorant  of  the  true  state  of 
affairs,  the  scheme  worked  with  wonderful  success.  “The 
publication  of  the  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry” 
says  Professor  Cattier  in  the  preface  to  his  notable  volume,^ 
“ has  transformed  as  by  a magic  wand  the  nature  of  the 
discussion  of  Congo  affairs,  . . . whoever  should  have 
alleged  a year  ago  one-tenth  of  facts  which  to-day  are 
definitely  established  would  have  run  the  risk  of  prosecu- 
tion.” To-day  the  situation  in  Belgium  has,  indeed  altered, 
and  is  discussed  with  greater  fulness  in  the  last  section  of 
this  book. 

Here  we  will  be  content  with  tracing  so  far  as  is  possible 
under  present  circumstances  how  the  revenues  from  the 
Congo  enterprise  are  distributed,  and  the  amount  of  them. 
Figures  are  always  indigestible  to  the  average  reader,  but  it 
is  absolutely  necessary  in  this  instance  to  deal  with  them. 
We  have  drunk  deep  from  the  well  of  human  misery  : the 
well  of  human  greed  has  now  to  be  explored. 

The  King,  the  reader  will  remember,  has  divided  his 
self-constituted  property,  so  far  as  the  revenues  derived  there- 
from are  concerned,  into  three  parts  : 

A.  Revenue  to  cover  general  working  expenses  of  the 
property  : termed  “ Government  ” or  “ Public  ” revenue. 

B.  Revenues  acquired  through  the  allotment  of  portions 
of  the  property  to  “Companies”  or  Trusts  for  the  collec- 
tion of  india-rubber. 

C.  Personal  revenues,  inalienable. 

Retaining  the  fiction  of  a “ State,”  an  official  bulletin  is 
issued  several  times  a year  by  the  Brussels  section  of  the 
King’s  Congo  staff : and  in  this  official  bulletin  is  given 
each  year  what  purports  to  be  the  revenue  and  expenditure 
of  the  “ State.”  These  figures  are  estimates  only,  and 
printed  as  such.  The  actual  returns  are  never  issued. 
They  are  the  estimates,  be  it  well  understood,  of  the 


' “ Etude  sur  la  situation  de  I’Etat  Independant  du  Congo.” 
Brussels,  1906. 


138 


The  Beneficiaries 


revenues  derived  from  the  part  of  the  Congo  marked  A,  e.g.^ 
the  Domaine  Privi  or  National.  They  profess  to  be  the 
estimated  revenues  and  expenditure  of  the  “ Government,” 
Until  1903  they  were  supposed  to  represent  an  estimate  of 
the  total  revenues  derived  by  the  “Government”  from  the 
“ State,”  the  very  existence  of  part  C. — with  its  inalienable 
personal  revenues — having  been  systematically  denied, 
although  created  in  1896.*  These  estimates  have  been 
issued  since  1891,  and  for  the  fifteen  years,  1891-1905 
inclusive,  figure  out  as  follows  ; 

Receipts,  250,353,59of. 

Expenditure,  277,491,5691. 

Excess  of  expenditure  over  receipts,  27,i37,979r. 

According  to  the  above  figures,  then,  the  general 
management  of  the  Congo  enterprise  has  entailed  in  fifteen 
years  an  estimated  working  loss  in  round  figures  of 
;^i,o85,ooo.  These  figures  being  estimates  only  are 
valueless.  They  are  not  only  valueless  in  the  present 
instance,  but  deliberately  misleading.  To  what  extent  will 
never  be  known  probably,  unless  one  of  King  Leopold’s 
Congo  staff  in  Brussels  should  turn  “ King’s  evidence.”  In 
so  far  as  they  are  used  in  argument  as  indicative  of  the 
profit  and  loss  on  the  management  of  the  Congo  enterprise, 
they  are  fraudulent. 

Very  few  persons  have  succeeded  in  ascertaining  the 
amount  realised  by  King  Leopold’s  brokers  from  the  sale  of 
the  rubber  and  ivory,  which  constitute  the  principal  items 
in  the  estimated  revenue  obtained  from  this  part  A.  or 
Domaine  Privi  of  the  Congo.  M.  A.  J.  Wauters  has 
published  the  figures  of  the  sales  effected  on  the  Antwerp 
market  for  1895-6-7.  Dr.  Anton,  Professor  at  the 
University  of  Jena,  was  able  to  give  those  for  1898.  The 
present  writer  secured  from  an  unquestionable  source  those 
for  1899  and  1900,  and  Father  Vermeersch,  whose  sources 
of  information  like  those  of  the  authorities  mentioned  above, 
have,  on  this  point,  never  been  contested,  claims  to  have 
ascertained  the  total  realisations  for  1904  and  1905.  The 


' The  revelation  of  its  existence  was  forced  by  a Parliamentary 
debate  in  the  Belgian  House  in  July,  1903. 

139 


Red  Rubber 


figures  for  1901-2-3  are  unhappily  still  a mystery. 
A comparison  of  these  figures  with  the  estimates  will  be 
instructive  : 


Years.  Published  estimates.  Realisations. 


1895 

Frs.  1,250,000 

Frs.  5,500,000  (Antwerp)  Wauters 

1896 

„ 1,200,000 

i) 

6,000,000 

yy 

yy 

1897 

„ 3,500,000 

yy 

8,500,000 

yy 

yy 

1898 

„ 6,700,000 

yy 

9,000,000 

yy 

Anton 

1899 

„ 10,200,000 

yy 

19,130,000 

yy 

Morel 

1900 

„ 10,500,000 

yy 

14,991,300 

yy 

yy 

1901 

„ 17,425,000 

yy 

— 

— 

— 

1902 

15,452,000 

yy 

— 

— 

— 

1903 

„ 16,440,000 

yy 

— 

— 

— 

1904 

„ 16,440,000 

yy 

27,057,510 

Total 

Vermeersch 

1905 

„ 16,500,000 

yy 

24,061,590 

yy 

yy 

Thus 

in  the  six  years 

for  which  we 

possess 

information 

of  the  partial  realisations  of  sales,  and  for  the  two  years 
in  which  we  possess  information  relating  to  the  total  reali- 
sation of  sales,  we  find  that  the  estimates  are  48,949,400^ 
or  just  under  ^2,000,000  less  than  the  receipts^  The  first 
;^2,000,000  unaccounted  for  ! The  misleading  character 
of  these  revenue  estimates  does  not  stop  there.  The  esti- 
mates include  each  year  a given  sum,  which  varies  with  the 
years,  representing  King  Leopold’s  share  in  the  profits  of 
the  “ Companies”  which  run  Part  B of  the  Congo.  These 
estimates  are  entered  as  produtt  du  port efeui lie or  proceeds 
from  stock  held,  and  a Congo  official  remarked  to  Consul 
Casement,  with  grim  irony,  that  they  would  be  more 
fittingly  entitled  '■'■produit  du  porte-fusil”  or  proceeds  from 
the  rifle.  These  estimates  are  invariably  below  the  actual 
figure.  For  the  two  years  1904  and  1905  the  estimates 
total  5,272,77of.,  whereas  the  proportion  accruing  to 
King  Leopold,  as  holder  of  half  the  shares  in  three  of  these 
companies  only,  amounted  to  9,003,914^,  an  excess  or 
nearly  ,^150,000  over  the  estimates. 

As  I have  said  the  full  amounts  realised  will  never  be 
ascertained  probably,  but  the  above  figures  are  conclusive 
on  one  point.  The  revenues  from  Part  A of  the  Congo 
territories — Domaine  Privi — set  aside  to  cover  the  expenses 
of  running  the  enterprise  have  not  been  less  than  the  expen- 
diture as  the  published  estimates  would  have  us  believe,  but 

140 


The  Beneficiaries 


have  largely  exceeded  the  expenditure.  There  has  been  a 
substantial  surplus  in  the  last  fifteen  years  which  can  be 
placed  with  the  utmost  moderation  at  ^^2, 000,000,  with  the 
certainty  of  being  far  below  the  mark,  and  that  surplus  is 
nowhere  accounted  for. 

We  will  now  turn  to  Part  B,  the  portion  of  the  Congo 
made  over  by  the  King  to  financiers  and  friends  who  have 
floated  “ Companies  ” on  the  Belgian  Stock  Exchange — 
formed  under  Congo  “ law  ” in  order  to  escape  control  of 
Belgian  Company  laws — and  who  dispose  of  the  rubber  they 
“collect,”  by  the  means  we  have  noted,  chiefly  on  the 
Antwerp  market.  These  “ Companies,”  or  Trusts,  are 
eight  in  number.  The  A.  IB.  /.  R (Lopori  and  Maringa), 
Anversoise  (Mongalla),  Kasai  (Basin  of  the  Kasai),  Com- 
mercial Congolais  (Wamba),  Grand  Lacs  (Aruwimi),  Comite 
Spkial  du  Katanga  (Katanga),  Busira  (Busira),  Lomami 
(Lomami).  For  all  practical  purposes  we  may  leave  out 
of  account  in  considering  the  revenues  derived  from  the 
rubber  slave-trade  up  to  the  present  time,  the  Busira  and 
Lomami  concessions,  the  Grand  Lacs,  or  Aruwimi  concession 
as  it  is  usually  but  not  quite  accurately  termed  ; the  Com- 
mercial Congolais  and  the  Katanga.  The  Busira  and  Lomami 
and  Commercial  Congolais  are  relatively  small  concerns ; the 
“ exploitation  ” of  the  rubber  of  the  Aruwimi  concession  by 
the  King’s  agents  only  began  eighteen  months  ago,  and  the 
returns  are  not  yet  available.  The  Katanga  concession  has, 
for  various  reasons,  been  preserved  hitherto  from  showing 
substantial  profits;  its  future  would  seem  to  lie  in  its  copper 
mines,  which  introduces  a new  element  not  ripe  at  present 
for  examination.  Both  the  Aruwimi  and  Katanga  are 
sources  of  great  potential  wealth,  and  lie  outside  the  scope 
of  the  present  exposL  Up  till  now  the  A.  B. I.  R,^  Anversoise^ 
and  Kasai  have  been  the  three  great  revenue  producers 
among  the  “ Companies,”  and  to  these  I propose  to  confine 
myself. 

The  A.  B.  I.  R.  used  to  be  known  as  the  Anglo-Belgian 
India  Rubber  Company,  in  which  Colonel  North  was  at  one 
time  interested.  Its  career  of  “ prosperity  ” began  with  its 
reconstitution  in  1898  as  a “Congo”  Company,  at  which 
time,  I believe,  all  British  capital  was  withdrawn.  Its 

141 


Red  Rubber 


nominal  capital  is  40,000,  in  2000  shares  of  ^20  each. 
King  Leopold  possesses  1000  of  these  shares.  Its  paid  up 
capital  is  only  ,^9,280.  Its  managing  council  is  at  present 
composed  of  M.  A.  Van  den  Nest,  Senator ; Count  J. 
d’Oultremont,  Grand  Master  of  King  Leopold’s  European 
Court ; A.  de  Browne  de  Tiege,  formerly  Member  of  Parlia- 
ment for  Antwerp,  a banker  who  some  years  ago  lent  money 
to  the  King  * ; M.  Alexis  Mols,  Count  Horace  van  der 
Burgh,  and  M.  J.  van  Stappen.  M.  van  Eetvelde,  one 
of  King  Leopold’s  principal  Congo  Secretaries  of  State, 
and  Baron  Dhanis,  an  ex-Governor-General  of  the  Congo, 
used  to  be  on  the  Council ; and  I believe  they  are  now,  but 
I am  not  sure. 

The  net  profits  of  this  concern  in  six  years  have  amounted 
to  i8,004,i72f.,  and  the  dividends  paid  per  share  to 
8,375f.  Thus  in  six  years  this  “ Company  ” has  made 
a net  profit  of  7 20,000  out  of  the  rubber  slave-trade  on  a 
paid-up  capital  of  9,280,  and  each  share  of  a paid-up  value 
of  ^4  6s.  6d.  has  received  ;^335  ! The  King’s  profits 
may  be  calculated  on  these  figures. 

But  these  profits  do  not  stand  alone.  To  stimulate 
interest  among  the  Belgian  public  in  the  Congo  enter- 
prise, shares  were  split  up  into  tenths,  and  they  are  still 
quoted  in  tenths  on  the  Antwerp  Stock  Exchange.  In 
this  manner  public  speculation  was  excited,  and  those 
in  the  know  have  done  well,  for  the  shares  rose  prodi- 
giously. Thus,  in  1899,  the  Stock  Exchange  quotation 
for  a full  share  was  17,950^;  in  1900,  25,2506; 
in  1903,  15,8006  These  extraordinary  fluctuations  are 
significant  of  much  which  goes  on  behind  the  scenes  at  the 
headquarters  of  the  rubber  slave-trade.  In  the  three 
years  given  above  the  owner  of  1000  full  shares  was 
either  a millionaire  or  next  door  to  it.  Let  the  reader 
judge  : 

1000  shares  paid-up  value.  Stock  exchange  quotations. 

Say  ;^4,640  ...  1899  ...  ;^7i8,ooo 

„ ...  1900  ...  ;£l,0I0,000 

„ ...  1903  — ;£632,000 


’ Which  had  to  be  paid  back  by  the  Belgian  Parliament. 
142 


The  Beneficiaries 


Eight  years  of  slaughter,  endemic  oppression,  and  exhaustion 
of  the  rubber-bearing  vines  have  done  their  work.  The 
output  is  falling  rapidly,  and  the  full  share  to-day  is  only 
worth  ;^i88.  I say  “worth” — I should  have  said  quoted. 
It  is  not  worth  anything  like  that  so  far  as  its  Congo 
expectations  are  concerned,  but  some  of  the  blood-stained 
profits  of  former  years  have  been  invested  in  rubber  plantations 
in  the  Malay  States,  and,  doubtless,  in  other  undertakings. 
The  “ property  ” of  this  “ Company  ” on  the  Congo  is  virtu- 
ally ruined,  and  precisely  the  same  history  is  being  repeated 
in  the  Kasai,  to  which  we  will  now  direct  our  attention. 

Prior  to  1902,  the  Kasai  Basin  was  the  only  region  of 
the  vast  Upper  Congo  left  open  to  trade.  This  concession 
had  been  wrung  out  of  the  King  by  the  opposition  of  the 
Belgian  merchants  established  in  the  Upper  Congo  when 
the  royal  decrees  (1891-2)  interpreting  the  rights  of 
“ Sovereignity  ” into  personal  possession  were  promulgated. 
Fourteen  Belgian  and  Dutch  merchants  bought  rubber  from 
the  natives  on  fair  terms,  and  did  a brisk  business.  Then 
King  Leopold  stepped  in,  and  forced  these  firms  to  amalga- 
mate in  a T rust.  The  natives  became  the  property  of  the 
Trust,  and  the  rubber  in  the  forests  also.  The  share  capital 
is  i,oo5,ooof.  in  4,020  shares  of  25of.  per  share,  of 
which  the  King  holds  2,010.  The  Administrators  in 
Europe  are  appointed  subject  to  the  King’s  approval.  The 
powers  of  this  Administrative  Council  are  controlled  by  a 
permanent  Committee  composed  of  four  members,  two  of 
whom  the  King  selects ; the  other  two  being  appointed 
subject  to  the  King’s  approval.  The  King  appoints  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  and  he  has  the  casting  vote. 
The  net  profits  of  the  concern  have  been  as  follows  : 


1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 


Francs  1,461;, 279 
„ 3.687,161 

..  5.597.449 

..  7.543.000 


or  in  four  years  7 3 1,680  on  a capital — fully  paid  up,  I 

believe — of  40,200.  These  shares  are  also  dealt  with  in 
tenths.  The  value  of  the  full  share  to-day  is  I5,500f.* 


' Oct.  loth,  i6,ooof. 

143 


Red  Rubber 


The  King’s  2,010  shares  are  worth,  therefore,  at  the  present 
figure  1,244,200.  The  profits  of  the  rubber  slave-trade 
are  not  exactly  negligeable  ! Twelve  hundred  tons  of 
rubber  on  a total  output  of  five  thousand  tons  from  the 
whole  of  the  Congo  were  wrung  from  the  Kasai  natives 
last  year.  The  state  of  things  in  this  part  of  the  Sovereign’s 
property  must  beggar  description.  According  to  the  best 
authorities  the  Kasai  natives  ten  years  ago  were  the  finest 
races  on  the  Congo,  celebrated  for  “moral  and  physical 
beauty.”  They  are  now  in  process  of  being  extirpated  and 
dragged  down  to  the  level  of  the  unhappy  Mongos,  Budjas, 
A-Babuas  and  other  tribes  inhabiting  the  rubber  zone. 

The  history  of  the  third  great  Trust,  that  of  the  Mon- 
galla  is  more  startling  than  its  profits,  which,  however,  are 
not  to  be  despised.  The  European  board  consists  of 
M.  A.  de  Browne  de  Tiege  (whom,  as  we  have  seen,  is  on 
the  A.B.I.R.  Board),  M.  C.  de  Browne  de  Tiege,  M. 
Bunge  (the  King’s  broker)  and  Baron  Goffinet,  an  “Inten- 
dant  of  the  King’s  Civil  List,”  otherwise  stated  one  of  the 
keepers  of  the  Privy  Purse — quite  a happy  family  party. 
The  capital  is  i,700,ooof.,  divided  into  3,400  shares  of 
50of.  each,  of  which  the  King  holds  1,700.  Moreover 
the  King  levies  15  per  cent,  on  the  Company’s  rubber 
profits  when  a fixed  percentage  of  profit  has  been  reached. 
The  net  profits  of  the  three  fat  years  1898,  1899,  and  1903 
amounted  to  ^360,000.  Profit  taking  in  1900,  1901  and 
1902  was  sadly  interfered  with  by  the  Budjas,  a fierce  tribe 
which  declined  to  be  enslaved.  Now  the  profits  are  steadily 
rising  again,  the  King  having  “ taken  over  ” the  business  ; 
which  means  in  practical  politics  that  the  natives  are  being 
kept  “ at  work  ” wholly  by  the  King’s  troops  commanded 
by  officers,  instead  of  by  the  less  efficient  irregulars  raised  by 
the  Trust  and  commanded  by  men  of  the  Caudron  type. 
It  seems  that  the  Budjas  are  now  “ working  well,”  and  the 
value  of  a full  share  (the  shares  are  also  quoted  in  tenths)  is 
now  ;^28o.  Seventeen  hundred  shares  of  a nominal  value 
of  £20  = ^34,400  ; seventeen  hundred  shares  at  ;^28o  = 
,^476,000,  Q.E.D.  Shortly  after  the  notorious  Major 
Lothaire  strung  up  Mr.  Stokes  to  the  nearest  available  tree, 
after  a trial  which  Lord  Fitzmaurice  has  recently  called 

144 


The  Beneficiaries 


“ one  of  the  most  disgraceful  judicial  farces  which  ever 
sullied  the  annals  of  what  purported  to  be  a Court  of 
Justice,”  King  Leopold  appointed  him  to  the  post  of 
Managing  Director  of  this  concern  in  Africa,  and  it  is  said 
that  His  Majesty  had  very  weighty  reasons  for  offering  this 
most  energetic  official  a lucrative  berth — which  that  berth 
certainly  proved  itself  to  be. 

******* 

We  now  come  to  Part  C of  the  Congo  territory — 
Domaine  de  la  Couronne^  whose  revenues  the  absentee  landlord 
has  appropriated  to  his  own  exclusive  manipulation.  The 
world  is  not  even  favoured  with  estimates  of  these  revenues. 
Sown  in  blood,i  they  are  harvested  in  secret.  We  owe  to 
Professor  Cattier  the  first  and  the  only  disclosures  of  their 
amount  and  the  disposal  of  them.  All  we  knew  prior  to 
the  appearance  of  his  revelations  this  year  were  the  names 
of  the  three  gentlemen  appointed  by  the  King  to  manage 
them,  viz.  : Baron  Goffinet,  already  holding  a distinguished 
position — as  we  have  seen — in  the  Congo  enterprise,  Baron 
Raoul  Snoy,  one  of  the  King’s  aides-de-camp^  and  M. 
Droogmans,  secretary  for  the  management  of  the  Domaine 
Prive  or  A revenues — again  a harmonious  family  party. 
With  great  elaboration,  by  carefully  tabulated  statistics,  by 
a system  of  double-check  worked  out  in  detail  Professor 
Cattier  has  been  able  to  estimate  that  the  net  profits  pro- 
cured from  this  private  preserve  have  amounted  in  the  last 
decade  to  a strict  minimum  of  ^^2, 854,000  or  nearly 

300,000  per  annum.  In  the  course  of  the  debate  in  the 
Belgian  Chamber  last  March,  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer,  the 
Premier  (of  whom  more  anon)  and  M.  de  Favereau,  the 
Foreign  Minister,  upon  both  of  whom  the  Congo  autocrat 
can  rely  under  any  circumstances,  endeavoured  to  dispute 
Professor  Cattier’s  figures.  But  the  attempt  broke  down 
hopelessly.  M.  de  Favereau  described  the  estimates  as  “very 
much  exaggerated  ” but  when  pressed  to  give  the  actual 


' Vide  Mr.  Joseph  Clark’s  and  Mr.  A.  E.  Scrivener's  evidence, 
Section  III.  See  also  the  terrible  accounts  gathered  by  Consul 
Casement  from  refugees  who  had  escaped  from  this  territory. 
(White  Book,  Africa,  No.  i,  1904). 

14s 


II 


Red  Rubber 


figure,  replied,  amid  laughter,  “ I do  not  know  what  it  is.”  * 
M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer  was  not  much  happier.  Basing 
himself  upon  data  purporting  to  fix  the  total  rubber-produc- 
ing area  of  the  Congo,  and  deducting  therefrom  the  area  of 
the  Domaine  de  la  Couronne^  he  declared  that  the  King’s  profits 
had  been  nearer  720,000  than  ^^2,000,000.  Asked  if  he 
“ took  the  responsibility  for  this  figure,”  M.  de  Smet  de 
Naeyer  answered  that  he  was  “ not  called  upon  to  establish 
before  the  House  the  revenues  of  the  Domaine  de  la  Couronne^* 
but  was  merely  disposing  of  Professor  Cattier’s  “errors.” 2 
Unfortunately  for  the  speaker,  he  was  shown  at  a subsequent 
stage  in  the  debate  to  have  himself  been  guilty  of  a 
prodigious  error,  by  including  in  the  rubber-producing  area 
of  the  Congo — as  quoted  by  him  to  the  House — the  area 
covered  by  all  the  waterways  of  the  immense  fluvial  system 
of  the  country,  plus  the  area  where  rubber  is  known  to 
exist  but  where  it  has  not  yet  been  “exploited”!  Hence 
Professor  Cattier’s  estimates  remain  unshaken.  He  might 
easily  have  been  confounded,  by  the  King  furnishing  the 
Prime  Minister  of  Belgium  with  the  real  figure,  if  that  figure 
had  been  lower  than  the  Professor’s  estimates.  That  the  Prime 
Minister  was  not  so  furnished  is  pretty  conclusive  evidence 
that  the  real  figure  is  higher  than  Professor  Cattier’s  estimates. 

But  this  terrible  critic  of  the  absentee  African  landlord 
did  not  end  there.  He  succeeded  in  obtaining  some 
remarkable  information  as  to  the  disposal  of  these  revenues. 
He  found  that  they  were  utilised,  inter  alia^  in  the  creation  of 
a Press  Bureau,  the  subsidising  of  journalists,  newspapers,  and 
jurists — for  the  drawing  up  of  doctrinal  theses,  whereby  the 
King  has  sought  to  invest  with  legality  the  appropriation  of 
800,000  square  miles  of  African  territory  to  himself ; the 
construction  of  a “colonial  school”  at  Tervueren  ; the 
construction  of  a triumphal  arch  in  Brussels,  the  cost  of 
which  the  Belgian  Parliament  had  declined  to  sanction 
from  the  national  funds ; improvements  on  a colossal  scale 
of  the  royal  residence  at  Laeken  ; last,  but  not  least,  the 
purchase  of  real  estate.  It  was  in  dealing  with  the  latter 
item  that  Professor  Cattier  was  specially  instructive.  He 


‘ Official  shorthand  report,  Feb.-March,  iqo6. 

146 


=■  Ibid. 


The  Beneficiaries 


searched  through  the  register  of  mortgages  for  two  of  the 
wards  or  districts  of  Belgium  (that  of  Brussels  and  that  or 
Ostend)  and  he  found  that  the  King  had  purchased  in  the 
name  of  the  Domaine  de  la  Couronne  (as  purchaser)  real 
estate  to  the  amount — as  entered  on  the  bills  of  sale — ot 
;^73I,56o.  Eighteen  pages  of  Professor  Cattier’s  volume 
are  devoted  to  a detailed  enumeration  of  the  115  transac- 
tions, officially  recorded  in  these  two  wards  alone.  Land, 
houses,  gardens,  hotels,  woods,  building  ground,  stables,  etc., 
are  mentioned  in  these  astonishing  purchases,  which,  as  Mr. 
Harold  Spender  says,^  look  “ as  if  King  Leopold  aimed  at 
using  the  proceeds  of  the  Congo  for  turning  Belgium  into 
his  private  estate.”  I do  not  know  whether  Belgian  legis- 
lation includes  what  might  correspond  to  our  statutes  of 
mortmain,  but  there  would  seem  to  be  need  of  something  of 
the  kind. 

The  genius  of  Leopold  Africanus  has  imagined  yet 
another  method  of  acquiring  further  sums  from  his  African 
property,  e.g.^  by  means  of  loans.  The  nominal  liabilities 
of  the  “ Congo  State  ” are  considerable.  They  are  as 
follows  : 

1888  “Public  debt” 

1890  and  1895  debt  contracted 
with  Belgium 

1896  Loan  .... 

1898  „ .... 

1901  „ .... 

1904  „ .... 

Or  a total  nominal  indebtedness  in  round  figures  of 

1 1,000,000 ! 

The  1,500,000  1 00-franc  bonds  of  the  1888  loan  are 
redeemable  in  ninety-nine  years  by  drawings  on  the  lottery 
system.  The  guaranteed  fund  being  sufficient  to  provide 
for  interest  and  sinking  fund,  no  interest  is  paid  on  the 
issues.  According  to  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer  900,000  of 
these  bonds  have  been  issued.  According  to  Professor 
Cattier  the  issue  of  the  first  100,000  bonds  was  “autho- 
rised ” in  February,  1888,  and  the  subscription  list  was 


Frs.  150,000,000 

„ 31,804,405 

„ 1,500,000 

„ 12,500,000 

„ 50,000,000 

„ 30,000,000 


‘ Contemporary  Review,  July,  1906, 

147 


Red  Rubber 


opened  on  March  7 of  the  same  year  at  the  price  of 
83f.  per  bond  : a further  issue  of  800,000  bonds  was 
“authorised  by  the  decree  of  November  3,  1902.’'  He 
adds  that  this  issue  was  partly  converted  in  1903.  If 
M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer’s  figure  is  accurate — and  his  state- 
ments as  we  have  seen  must  be  received  with  caution — 
only  200,000  bonds  out  of  the  last  authorised  issue  have 
been  converted.  A large  number  of  bonds  have  been 
placed  in  France,  and  M.  Lucien  Coquet,  in  an  able  treatise, 
declares  that  in  1903  the  number  of  bonds  negotiable  on 
the  French  market  was  796, 875. ^ Should  this  be  true  it 
means  that  France  holds  four-fifths  of  the  total  issue 
up-to-date,  an  interesting  circumstance  deserving  of  note. 

King  Leopold  pays  no  interest  to  Belgium  on  the  money 
borrowed  from  her  in  1890  and  1895. 

The  loans  of  1896,  1898,  and  1901  bear  interest  at 
4 per  cent.,  and  the  loan  of  1904  at  3 per  cent.  The 
bonds  created  under  the  1901  loan  are  reimbursable  in 
ninety  years.  The  bonds  issued  under  the  1904  loan, 
known  as  the  “ 3 per  cent.  Congo,”  bear  interest  as 
from  March  l of  that  year.  A portion  of  this  stock  was 
placed  at  par,  the  balance  at  a discount  ot  no  less  than 
28  per  cent. 

In  addition  to  the  nominal  liabilities  mentioned  above, 
an  indirect  debt  was  incurred  in  1901,  consisting  of  a 
guarantee  of  interest  of  4 per  cent,  on  a sum  of 
25,000, ooof.  raised  by  the  Grand  Lacs  Trust. 

In  his  recent  manifesto.  King  Leopold  expresses  his 
intention  of  raising  a further  loan  of  I00,000,000f. — 
four  million  sterling. 

What  has  King  Leopold  actually  received  from  these 
loans  ? 

It  is  impossible  to  say  with  certainty.  Professor  Cattier, 
after  an  elaborate  analysis — based  upon  the  sums  set  aside  in 
the  annual  Congo  estimates  for  interest  on  loans — reckons 
the  figure  at  3,200,000,  exclusive  of  the  1888  loan.  The 
yield  from  the  1888  loan  he  reckons  at  ^2,000,000  : total 


* Lucien  Coquet,  “ Fragments  d’une  etude  sur  les  secrets 
d’Etat.”  Paris,  1903. 

148 


The  Beneficiaries 


5, 200, 000.  A long  and  heated  discussion  took  place  in 
the  Belgian  Chamber  over  these  figures  last  March.  The 
upshot  of  it  was  that  an  actual  yield  of  a little  over 
^^3,000,000  was  admitted  by  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer,  who 
gave  no  proof- — as  various  speakers  pointed  out — that  the 
larger  sum  estimated  by  Professor  Cattier  did  not  approxi- 
mate more  closely  to  the  truth. 

And  now  let  us  sum  up  this  astonishing  series  of 
facts. 

King  Leopold  starts  upon  his  Congo  career  by  declaring 
that  he  has  taken  in  hand  a philanthropic  enterprise. 
Stanley  came  over  to  this  country  as  his  mouth-piece,  and 
— doubtless  quite  sincerely  at  the  time — chided  his  audience 
for  a latent  scepticism,  or  lack  of  “sentiment.”  They 
could  not,  he  told  them  “ appreciate  rightly,  because  there  are 
no  dividends  attached  to  ity  this  restless,  ardent,  vivifying  and 
expansive  sentiment  which  seeks  to  extend  civilising 
influence  among  the  dark  places  of  sad-browed  Africa.” 

For  several  years  the  King  sinks  40,000  per  annum  in 
the  Congo,  which  he  is  gradually  taking  steps  to  turn  into 
his  private  possession  with  everything  animal,  vegetable, 
and  mineral  within  it  included. 

He  publishes  annual  statements  which  profess  to  be 
estimates  of  the  total  revenues  acquired  by  this  philanthropic  • 
enterprise,  and  he  invites  the  world  to  note  that  during  the 
last  fifteen  years,  notwithstanding  his  royal  liberality,  the 
enterprise  shows  a loss  of  f 1,085,000. 

Upon  examination  those  estimates  are  found  to  have 
been  below  the  receipts  by  something  like  3,000,000,  so 
that  an  alleged  loss  is  converted  into  a profit  of  nearly 
jT 2,000,000  nowhere  accounted  for. 

It  transpires,  moreover,  that  the  King  is  the  holder  of 
shares  in  rubber  “ Companies,”  which ‘he  has  caused  to  be 
formed  and  floated  in  Brussels  and  on  the  Congo,  and 
which  he  controls  through  his  creatures,  and  that  the 
stock-exchange  value  of  his  holdings  to-day  is  ,^2,000,000. 

It  transpires  further  that — after  concealing  the  fact  for 
eight  years — the  King  has  set  aside  a portion  of  the  Congo 

149 


Red  Rubber 


four  times  the  size  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Wales,  for 
himself  exclusively,  and  that  the  net  revenues  he  has  derived 
therefrom  in  ten  years  amount  to  ^^2,854,000. 

Thus  we  find  that  the  King’s  philanthropic  enterprise  has 
in  the  last  fifteen  years  produced  a net  profit  of  just  under 
;^5, 000,000  instead  of  a deficit  of  085,000,  and  that  the 
close  of  these  fifteen  years  finds  the  King  in  possession  of 
shares  in  three  rubber  “ Companies  ” of  a total  stock- 
exchange  value  of  jT 2,000,000,  apart  altogether  from  the 
enormous  potential  value  of  his  holding  in  two  other  Congo 
“ Companies  ” — the  Katanga  (and  its  subsidiaries)  and  the 
Grand  Lacs  or  Aruwimi.  Holder  of  these  shares,  in  two 
cases  for  eight  years,  in  one  case  for  four  years,  he  has  been 
in  a position  to  reap  all  the  profits  from  speculation  thus 
afforded,  and  with  the  greater  facility  since  the  large 
proportion  of  shares  held  by  him,  carried  with  it  control  ot 
the  market. 

The  picture  is  completed  by  the  revelation  that  to  meet 
an  alleged  published  deficit  of  ^1,085,000,  he  has  contracted 
nominal  debts  to  the  amount  of  fi  1,000,000  from  which 
he  has,  admittedly,  received  ^3,000,000  ! 

The  whole  of  these  vast  sums  are  the  proceeds  of  the 
rubber  slave-trade  of  the  Congo,  raised  directly  or  indirectly 
from  the  unspeakable  oppression,  misery,  and  partial  ex- 
termination of  the  native  of  Central  Africa. 

Crime  so  awful,  scandal  of  such  magnitude,  tragedy  so 
immeasurable — the  world  surely  has  never  seen  their  like 
in  combination. 

****** 

The  question  with  which  this  section  is  headed  is  now 
answered,  and  the  facts  herein  tabulated  can  only  be 
disproved  in  one  way,  viz.  ; by  the  production  of  audited 
balance  sheets  of  the  Congo  revenues,  covering  the  last 
fifteen  years.  And  these  will  not  be  forthcoming. 

King  Leopold  is  the  main  beneficiary  of  the  rubber 
slave-trade  : a long  way  behind  him,  the  chosen  few  whom 
choice  or  temporary  necessity  have  caused  to  be  selected  as 
participants  in  the  royal  spoil.  As  a Belgian  writer  puts  it : 
“ The  slave-trade  has  been  re-established  for  the  benefit  of 

150 


The  Beneficiaries 


King  Leopold  and  twenty  rich  families  in  Belgium.”  It 
bodes  little  what  the  sovereign  of  the  Congo  has  done  with 
this  ill-gotten  wealth.  If  he  had  spent  it  all,  and  all  the 
additional  wealth  it  has  enabled  him  to  amass  in  other  fields, 
in  charitable  institutions,  the  crime,  the  scandal,  and  the 
tragedy  would  remain.  True  to  his  role  King  Leopold  now 
seeks  to  pose  as  the  celestially  appointed  agent  to  stem  the 
ravages  of  malaria  and  sleeping-sickness.  He  has  given 

1,000  to  Sir  Alfred  Jones — his  Liverpool  Consul  and 
the  ocean-carrier  of  his  rubber — for  the  Liverpool  School  of 
Tropical  Medicine  (an  admirable  institution  of  which  Sir 
Alfred  Jones  is  the  president),  and  in  his  recent  manifesto 
offers  to  spend  2,000  towards  “fighting”  the  sleeping 
sickness.  The  mere  idea  of  a grant  of  12,000  out  of  as 
many  millions  wrung  from  the  Congo  natives,  fills  this 
royal  Pecksniff  with  such  emotion  at  his  own  goodness 
that  he  declares  : — 

“ If  God  gives  me  that  satisfaction  (victory  over  sleeping  sick- 
ness) I shall  be  able  to  present  myself  before  His  judgment-seat 
with  the  credit  of  having  performed  one  of  the  finest  acts  of  the 
century,  and  a legion  of  rescued  beings  will  call  down  upon  me 
His  grace."  ‘ 

Prodigious  ! One  feels  inclined  to  suggest  a special  form 
of  prayer  for  the  use  of  the  royal  benefactor  somewhat  after 
this  wise  : — 

“Oh  ! Almighty  God, from  my  ill-gotten  millions  I devote  unto 
Thee  the  colossal  sum  of  twelve  thousand  pounds,  to  save  Thy 
people  in  Africa  from  a disease  which  my  policy  towards  them, 
by  increasing  their  impoverishment  and  misery,* *  by  destrojnng 
their  confidence,*  by  robbing  them  of  their  staple  food  supplies,* 
by  plunging  them  in  wretchedness  and  despair,*  has  largely 
increased.*  Stained  as  my  policy  is,  with  crimes  innumerable. 
Thou  wilt  appreciate  the  extent  of  this,  my  pecuniary  sacrifice. 
At  the  touch  of  my  royal  robe,  whole  tribes  have  disappeared  as 
though  struck  down  with  a mysterious  pestilence.  The  progress 
of  my  triumphal  march  through  the  Equatorial  forest  is  marked 
by  the  bleached  bones  of  men  and  women.  But  all  good  deeds 
have  their  painful  sides,  and  what  is  the  evil  wrought,  besides 


* Royal  manifesto,  June,  1906. 

* Evidence  before  Commission  of  Inquiry. 

151 


Red  Rubber 


these  twelve  thousand  golden  pieces  which  I offer  upon  this  my 
sacrificial  altar,  for  the  salvation  of  those  of  my  black  subjects 
whose  eyelids  (unhappily  for  them)  are  not  yet  closed  in  sleep 
eternal  ? ” 

It  bodes  little  whether  the  bulk  of  this  money  has  been, 
and  is  being  expended  on  what  the  King  considers  the 
interests  of  Belgium — we  shall  see  in  the  next  section  the 
peculiar  way  in  which  those  interests  are  regarded  by  him. 
Obviously  he  cannot  spend  it  all  on  himself,  or  his  friends 
of  either  sex.  The  improvements  at  the  Laeken  Palace  are 
to  cost,  when  completed,  1,200,000.  The  triumphal 
arch  erected  in  Brussels,  and  which  the  nation  did  not 
require,  cost  £200,000.  Plans  have  recently  been  submitted 
to  His  Majesty  for  the  erection  of  an  enormous  statue  ot 
himself  mounted  on  a charger  to  be  erected  in  Brussels  in 
1910  at  a cost  of  ^150,000.  The  investigations  into  the 
value  of  real  estate  he  has  purchased  in  Belgium  have  only 
begun.  Professor  Cattier  has  proved  purchases  totalling 
^^731, 560.  Monsieur  Vandervelde  was  able  to  inform  the 
Belgian  Chamber  last  March  that  Professor  Cattier’s  dis- 
closures by  no  means  exhaust  the  list  ; that  more  real 
estate  has  been  bought  by  the  “ Domaine  de  la  Couronne  ” 
in  the  provinces  of  Louvain,  Namur,  and  Luxemburg. ^ 
The  same  speaker  alleged  that  other  properties  had  been 
purchased  by  the  King  in  the  name  of  Baron  Goffinet  (with 
whom  the  reader  will  be  familiar). i It  is,  of  course,  well 
known  that  the  King  owns  large  properties  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean, notably  at  Cape  Ferrat,  where  a magnificent  residence 
and  grounds  are  occupied  by  “Madame  la  baronne  Vaughan.” 
The  French  Government  declined  to  recognise  the 
^'■Domaine  de  la  Couronne'^'’  as  a valid  purchaser,  and  the 
property  was  acquired  in  the  name  of  the  King’s  medical 
adviser.2  M.  Vandervelde  estimates  the  purchase  price  of 
the  properties  at  Cape  Ferrat,  and  in  Brussels  under  the 
name  of  Baron  Goffinet  at  j^68o,ooo  ; and  he  is  exception- 
ally well  informed.  It  is,  of  course,  equally  well  known 
that  the  King  has  invested  large  sums  in  Chinese  railways, 
and  in  Persia,  and  there  are  rumours  that  his  agents  are 

' Official  Parliamentary  Report.  ® Ibid. 

152 


The  Beneficiaries 


conducting  negotiations  in  San  Domingo  and  Bolivia.  He 
is  reported  to  have  invested  j^6oo,ooo  in  Suez  Canal  stock.* 
Very  large  sums  have  certainly  been  expended  in  the  cam- 
paign of  mendacity  organised  throughout  the  world  by  his 
Press  Bureau,  especially  in  France,  the  United  States,  Italy, 
and  Germany.  A great  deal  of  information  has  come  into 
my  hands  on  this  subject,  but  not  in  a form  which  renders 
publicity  always  possible,  or  internationally  desirable.  There 
is  not  a well-informed  Frenchman  on  Colonial  affairs  but 
knows  that  the  present  admittedly  deplorable  state  of  affeirs 
in  the  African  territory  of  France  bordering  King  Leopold’s 
preserve,  is  the  outcome  primarily  of  Leopoldian  intrigue 
with  a golden  lining.  The  men  who  in  France  are 
struggling  against  the  innociilation  of  French  Colonial  ideas 
by  the  Leopoldian  virus — Anatole  France,  Francis  de 
Pr6ssens6,  Paul  Viollet,  Gustave  Rouanet,  Pierre  Mille, 
Fdlicien  Challaye,  and  others — are  fighting  not  only  for  the 
fair  fame  of  their  country,  but — as  we  are  fighting  here — 
' for  the  preservation  of  the  native  races  of  Central  Africa, 
for  the  salvation  of  the  African  tropics  from  the  destructive 
blight  of  Leopoldian  precept  and  example.  That  great 
man,  de  Brazza,  seeing  with  his  own  eyes  the  result  of 
imitating  Leopoldian  methods  in  the  French  Congo,  whither 
he  had  been  sent  on  a mission  of  investigation  by  his 
Government,  had  determined  to  consecrate  the  rest  of  his 
life  to  opening  the  eyes  of  the  French  people,  and  fighting 
the  modern  slave-trade.  Death  has  robbed  us  of  him.  But 
his  Memoirs  remain.  May  Madame  de  Brazza  be  inspired 
to  give  them  to  the  world. 


' Le  Patriate  (Royalist  and  Catholic),  Brussels,  August,  1905,  in 
an  interview  “ with  an  eminent  authority  of  the  first  rank.” 


153 


SECTION  y 

THE  DUTY 


I 


THOU  ! 

Did  King  Leopold  know  that  the  concomitants  to  the 
enormous  revenues  he  has  been  drawing  from  the  labour 
of  the  Congo  races  were  the  misery,  degradation,  enslave- 
ment and  partial  extermination  of  those  peoples  ? 

****** 

Does  the  question  require  an  answer,  other  than  the 
answer  these  pages  supply  ? 

Remember  that  power  has  been  and  is  vested  in  him 
alone  ; that  that  power  is  absolute,  all  controlling  and 
directing  ; that  his  Congo  staff  in  Brussels  is  not  composed 
of  responsible  officials,  but  of  men  whom  he  himself  has 
selected  and  keeps  upon  it,  revocable  at  his  will  and  pleasure, 
answerable  to  him  alone,  paid  out  of  his  African  revenues, 
men  to  whom  no  initiative  is  allowed,  who  are  there  to  do 
his  bidding,  whose  position  is  wholly  dependent  upon  a 
slavish  submission  to  his  commands. 

Remember  that  these  men — if  responsibility  be  shifted 
from  the  royal  shoulders  on  to  theirs — stand  condemned 
on  the  face  of  the  Report  of  his  own  Commission,  stand 
condemned  at  the  bar  of  civilisation,  of  having  directed 
for  fifteen  years,  from  their  offices  in  Brussels,  a vast  system 
of  criminal  oppression  the  like  of  which  the  world  has 
never  seen. 

Remember  that  if  the  royal  master  was  ignorant  of  their 
misdeeds,  they  have  betrayed  and  disgraced  him  before  the 
universe,  they  have  bespattered  the  royal  robe  with  blood, 
they  have  branded  the  royal  name  with  infamy,  they  have 

157 


Red  Rubber 


been  wicked  servants ; and  their  offence  is  the  greater 
since  he  has  profited  from  it,  largely  profited,  profited  beyond 
the  dreams  of  avarice. 

Remember  that  he  has  retained  them  in  office,  and  that 
a Minister  of  Great  Britain  to  the  European  country  over 
which  he  rules  as  constitutional  monarch,  has  still  to  con- 
duct diplomatic  negotiations  through  them^  on  behalf  of  the 
Government  of  his  Britannic  Majesty  ! 

Remember  that  his  Congo  staff  in  Africa  does  but  apply 
and  carry  out  the  instructions  it  receives  from  Brussels,  and 
that  the  Governor-General  is  his  “ mandatory.” 

Remember  that  fourteen  years  ago  he,  by  secret  decree *  * 
— the  contents  of  which  were  unknown  until  years  later — 
gave  to  that  staff  a command  which  was  to  regulate  their 
whole  conduct,  to  be  the  motive  force  directing  them,  their 
paramount  duty  and  their  first  consideration  ; and  that 
command  was  to  raise  revenue. 

Remember  that  for  eleven  years  out  of  those  fourteen 
the  natives  were  “by  force ”2  competed  to  provide  this 
revenue,  illegally, 2 with  no  limitation  as  to  quantity  or 
time,  and  that  members  of  his  staff  received  in  various  forms 
commission  proportionate  to  the  revenue  they  secured.2 

Remember  that  in  the  eleventh  year,  when  revelations 
increased  and  multiplied  every  day,  this  raising  of  revenue 
“ by  force  ” was  for  the  first  time  legalised,  but  limited 
by  law  in  such  a way  as  to  provide  that  no  native  should  be 
called  upon  to  labour  for  the  royal  majesty  in  Brussels  at 
the  utmost  more  than  forty  hours  per  month  or  sixty  days 
per  annum.2 

Remember  that  three  months  after  the  promulgation  or 
this  legal  decision — which  had  then  become  the  law  of  the 
country — the  King’s  “ mandatory  ” in  Africa  issued  a 
private  circular  to  the  local  staff  to  the  effect  that  the 
revenues,  under  this  new  law — which  restricted  to  a fixed 
duration  of  time  demands  that  for  the  eleven  preceding  years  had 
been  unrestricted  and  unlimited — should  not  only  be  main- 
tained at  their  previous  figure,  but  should  show  “ constant 


' December  5,  1891. 

* Commission  of  Inquiry’s  Report. 

158 


Thou  ! - 


progression”* *  : and  that  one  year  after  the  new  law  had 
come  into  operation  (November-December,  1904)  the 
natives  were  being  requisitioned  “ by  force  ” to  the  raising 
of  revenue  for  a minimum  of  three  hundred  days  in  the 
year.2 

Remember  that  from  this  supreme  “ illegality  ” sprang 
acts  all  of  them  equally  illegal  according  to  the  laws  of 
the  country,  propounded  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  pro- 
tecting the  native  against  outrage,  which  the  supreme 
“illegality” rendered  habitual  and  inevitable;  such  as  armed 
expeditions  illegally  sent  against  native  communities,  un- 
willing or  unable  to  supply  revenue  in  quantities  considered 
requisite  by  the  local  members  of  the  royal  staff,  who 
received  a commission  on  that  revenue  ; the  seizure  of  men 
and  women  and  their  illegal  retention  in  hostage-houses, 
and  so  on. 

Remember  that  all  this  while  if  data  on  the  abominations 
committed  under  this  illegal  system  for  raising  revenue  in 
accordance  with  the  King’s  command  were  accumulating 
in  the  mission  stations,  they  were  also  accumulating  in  the 
official  records  and  in  the  Public  Prosecutor’s  office,  which 
is  supervised  by  the  King’s  “ mandatory  ” ; and  that  the 
King’s  Commissioners  have  declared  that  the  material  for 
the  affirmations  their  Report  contains,  and  for  the  con- 
clusions at  which  they  arrived,  was  supplied  not  so  much 
from  the  evidence  placed  before  them  by  European  and 
native  witnesses  as  from  the  examination  of  these  official 
records.3 

Remember  that  no  members  of  the  King’s  Executive 
staff  in  Africa  have  been  prosecuted  or  even  dismissed  the 
royal  service,  but  on  the  contrary  have  been  honoured, 
promoted,  and  remunerated. 

» « * * 

Let  those  who  from  motives  unquestionably  good  in  the 
eyes  of  the  men  who  hold  them,  motives  made  up  of 


* Commission  of  Inquiry’s  Report. 

* Ibid.  These  demands  continued  as  soon  as  the  back  of  the 
Commission  was  turned,  and  they  continue  to  this  day. 

3 Ibid. 


159 


Red  Rubber 


traditions  and  a general  trend  of  ideas  that  have  much  to 
recommend  them  in  ordinary  cases,  seek  some  loophole 
of  escape  from  a grim  logic  which  will  not  be  gainsaid,  and 
find  it  in  “ Sinning  Concessionnaire  Companies  ” ; let  them 
remember  who  these  “ concessionnaires  ” are,  and  what 
these  “ Companies  ” are  ! Farmers  of  a portion  of  the  royal 
revenues  ; organisations  created  and  operating  under  the 
King’s  African  code  of  laws,  subjected  to  no  control  from 
the  machinery  of  a European  judicature. 

Let  them  remember  that  the  men  on  the  Councils  of 
the  headquarters  of  these  concerns  are  the  King’s  Congo 
bodyguard  ; that  all  these  years  they  have  acted  in  the 
closest  partnership  with  him — officers  of  his  Privy  Purse, 
functionaries  at  his  European  Court,  bankers  ever  obsequious 
to  the  royal  call ! 

Let  them  remember  that  these  men  still  bask  in  the 
royal  smile,  these  “ Companies  ” still  operate,  the  King’s 
steamers  still  convey  to  their  agents  in  Africa  the  rifle  and 
cap-gun,  the  cases  of  cartridges,  caps  and  loads,  by  which 
means  they  “ stimulate  ” for  themselves  and  for  the  King 
the  rubber  output ! 

Like  the  Brussels  Executive  Staff,  like  the  Congo  Execu- 
tive Staff ; the  so-called  '•'•concessionnaires  ” the  titled  partners 
in  guilt,  the  financial  vampires  in  co-equal  infamy,  the 
beneficiaries  from  uniformity  in  outrage,  remain. 

The  handwriting  is  on  the  wall!  It  blazes  forth  in  letters 
of  fire  ! They  will  burn  through  the  ages  unquenchable, 
ineffaceable,  a transcendental  testimony  to  the  possibilities 
of  individual  crime,  a supreme  warning  to  mankind,  and 
in  the  dim  hereafter  those  who  read  them  with  happier 
hearts  and  in  happier  times  will  recollect  that  their  message 
it  was  which  pronounced  the  final  judgment  upon  autocratic 
rule  in  the  world  of  men. 


l6o 


II 

“ REFORM” 

“ My  rights  on  the  Congo  are  indivisible  . . . none  possess 
any  right  of  intervention.”  Such  is  King  Leopold’s  answer 
to  the  protest  of  civilisation.  The  tenure  of  he  who  makes 
that  answer  is  so  precarious  that  he  has  thought  well  to 
accompany  such  declarations  with  a series  of  decrees 
addressed  to  his  Brussels  staff,  elaborating  a number  of 
“ reforms.” 

Those  “ reforms  ” are  left  to  the  Congo  staff  to  execute 
after  having  been  drawn  up  by  the  Brussels  staff! 

The  future  destinies  of  the  Congo  natives  are  committed 
to  the  same  hands  which  have  dealt  so  gently  with  them  in 
the  past  1 

“ Reforms,”  the  need  for  which  the  Brussels  staff  has 
always  rejected  because  it  always  denied  the  existence  of 
factors  requiring  that  attention  which  the  Commission  or 
Inquiry  urgently  called  for,  are  conceded,  in  theory,  just 
as  they  were  conceded,  in  theory,  ten  years  ago  by  the 
creation  of  the  “ Commission  for  the  Protection  of  the 
Natives  ” and  the  “ perfecting  ” of  the  “ Organisation  of 
Justice.” 

And  observe  in  what  manner  they  are  issued  to  a wonder- 
ing world.  “We — that  is,  the  most  obedient  servants  of 
His  Majesty’s  Brussels  staff — have  the  honour  to  submit  for 
the  approval  of  your  Majesty  the  legislative  and  administra- 
tive measures  which  appear  to  us  of  a nature  to  continue  the 
realisation  of  the  programme  which  the  King-Sovereign  has  been 
pursuing  for  more  than  a quarter  op  a century  in  Central  Africa^ 
at  the  price  of  his  constant  efforts  and  personal  sacrifice."  How 

l6l  12 


Red  Rubber 


true,  indeed!  For  the  items  in  the  “programme”  of  this 
Leopoldian  civilisation  remain  not  only  unaltered,  but 
accentuated,  re-affirmed  in  tones  unmistakable,  breathing 
an  arrogance  born  of  long  immunity  in  wrongdoing. 

The  interpretation  of  “ Sovereignty  ” to  mean  personal 
possession  ; of  an  international  trusteeship  converted  into 
private  property  ; of  African  production  for  the  pursuance 
of  alien  aims  ; of  power  absolute,  unchecked,  unfettered, 
uncontrolled,  “ indivisible,”  setting  itself  beyond  and  above 
the  law  of  nations — all  this  is  emphasised  in  the  Royal 
Manifesto. 

The  “ personal  sacrifice  ” is  exemplified  by  a tighten- 
ing of  the  grip  upon  the  revenues  from  the  Domaine  de  la 
Couronne  and  Domaine  Privl,  while  modesty  still  demands 
that  the  extent  of  the  “ sacrifice  ” should  be  withheld — in 
other  words,  that  the  amount  of  those  revenues  should  still 
be  wrapped  in  mystery  as  unfathomable  as  the  regenerator 
of  Africa  can  make  it  I Any  outside  interference  in  such 
matters  “ partakes  of  the  character  of  positive  usurpation.”  > 
The  realisation  of  the  programme  will  be  fulfilled  “ with 
the  most  immutable  patriotism,”  and  “ in  perfect  harmony 
with  my  immutable  will.”  2 

That  form  does  atonement  take  I 

****** 

After  this  is  it  necessary  to  exame  those  “reforms  ” ? 

The  produce  of  the  soil  of  Central  Africa  still  belongs  to 
the  King  ; hence,  too,  the  labour  of  the  African  without 
which  the  former  is  unobtainable.  But  the  native  will  only 
be  taxed  “ in  strict  conformity  with  legality  ” I 

The  royal  profits  derived  from  pillage,  perennial  outrage, 
and  endemic  oppression  have  been  stupendous,  but  insuffi- 
cient, as  we  have  seen,3  to  provide  for  the  feeding  of  native 
witnesses,  whose  attendance  is  required  at  Boma,  the  chief 
directing  centre  of  the  King’s  African  estate.  So,  too, 
more  officers  will  be  drafted  into  the  King’s  African  army 
to  secure  the  “ effective  control  ” of  the  troops,  but  only 


‘ Royal  Manifesto,  June,  1906. 
3 Vide  Section  IV.,  part  iii. 

162 


’ Ibid. 


“ Reform  ” 


“ when  the  revenue  permits  of  it  ” ! and  three  “ Inspectors  ” 
shall  be  specially  appointed  to  ensure  a just  relationship 
between  European  and  natives  in  a country  800,000  square 
miles  in  extent  as  a preliminary  to  securing  “a  more  com- 
plete administrative  and  judicial  organisation”  which,  alas  ! 
is  “ only  possible  through  an  increase  in  the  revenue  of  the 
State”! 

“ The  law  ” — we  had  been  told  of  old  time — “ protects  the 
freedom  of  the  native  by  forbidding  any  interference  with  the 
freedom  of  business  transactions,”  and  we  are  now  informed 
that  this  principle  remains  unimpaired.  Who  could  have 
doubted  it,  since  the  only  articles  on  the  Congo  which 
can  give  rise  to  “ business  transactions  ” are  the  private 
property  of  the  absentee  landlord  in  Europe  ! Have  we 
not  been  told  also  that  “ the  State  has  been  at  much  pains 
to  protect  the  natives  from  being  robbed.”  2 

The  native  is  only  required  to  work  “ forty  hours  per 
month  ” for  the  absentee  landlord  and  his  partners.  Let 
the  reader  peruse  once  more  the  preceding  chapter.  . . . 
In  the  last  seven  years  King  Leopold’s  African  estate  has 
produced  eleven  million  pounds  sterling  of  india-rubber  by 
claiming  the  labour  of  the  African  natives  from  the  rising 
of  the  sun  to  the  setting  thereof,  and  enforcing  that  claim 
vi  et  armis^  and  the  King’s  “mandatory  ” has  declared  that 
the  amount  must  be  increased  under  a law  which  demands 
of  the  native  not  every  day  in  every  year,  but  only  sixty 
days.  If  this  law  were  applied  the  revenues  would  decrease 
by  four-fifths,  and  I am  afraid  that  not  only  would  the 
“ effective  control  ” of  the  King’s  African  army,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  “ more  complete  administrative  and  judicial 
organisation  ” be  delayed  ad  infinitum,  but  the  native 
witnesses  in  criminal  cases  would  need  to  go  wholly 
unfed,  and — still  more  terrible  to  contemplate — the  next 
cheque  for  the  Liverpool  School  of  Tropical  Medicine 
might  conceivably  become  overdue,  while  the  chances  of 
fruitful  speculation  in  rubber  shares  on  the  Antwerp  Bourse 
would  be  inconveniently  curtailed.  “ Personal  sacrifice  ” 
would  clearly  be  too  onerous  a moral  asset  on  such  terms. 


* Official  Bulletin.  “ Ibid. 

163 


L__ 


Ill 

THE  POSITION  OF  BELGIUM 

“We  are,  therefore,  armed.  It  is  not  the  power  to  act,  but  the 
will  to  act,  which  the  Government  lacks,  and  I must  add  that  I 
do  not  expect  much  from  it,  because  the  characteristic  of  its 
policy  during  the  last  few  years  has  been  complete  acquiescence 
in  everything  which  the  sovereign  of  the  Congo  State  has  done.” 
— N.  Vandervelde,  1906.' 

Not  reform  but  revolution.  Not  the  apothecary  but  the 
surgeon.  Not  poulticing  but  removal. 

Can  the  European  people  over  whom  King  Leopold — a 
foreigner  to  them — rules  as  constitutional  monarch  and 
whom  he  in  his  heart  despises — can  they  apply  the  remedy  ? 
Can  they  tear  the  races  of  Central  Africa  from  that  relent- 
less grasp  ? Are  they  able  to  do  it  ? Were  they  able  to 
do  it,  could  they  shoulder  the  burden  of  introducing 
justice  and  good  government  where  for  fifteen  long  years 
massacre  and  pillage  have  gone  hand  in  hand — a burden 
heavy,  ungrateful,  dangerous  for  so  small  a people — the  more 
dangerous  since  their  mental  outlook  on  colonial  enterprise 
has  been  greatly  poisoned  and  corroded  by  the  foetid  example 
placed  before  them  ? 

Between  England  and  Belgium  cling  historical  ties  which 
make  for  the  preservation  of  Belgium.  The  King  of  the 
Belgians  is  a bitter  and  malignant  enemy  of  England.  He 
has  become  so  because  England  has  supplied  the  pens  and 
the  voices  which  have  exposed  his  African  undertaking. 


' Official  shorthand  report  of  the  Belgian  Parliamentary  Debates, 
February-March,  1906. 


164 


The  Position  of  Belgium 


But  in  England,  if  there  is  no  particular  admiration  for,  there 
is  no  hostility  to,  the  Belgian  people.^  Almost  everywhere 
among  us  it  is  recognised  that  they  have  been  misled  as  to 
sentiment,  duped  as  to  motives,  misinformed  as  to  facts, 
irresponsible  as  to  action,  foully  betrayed  by  carefully 
combined  co-operation  in  intrigue.  Hence  it  is  that  a 
very  general  feeling  prevails  in  this  country  in  official  circles 
and  outside  them  that  annexation  by  Belgium  would  con- 
stitute a solution,  most  to  be  desired  on  varying  grounds,  of 
the  Congo  outrage. 

This  hope  has  been  frequently  expressed.  Let  us,  then, 
examine  the  possibilities.  But  in  God’s  name  let  our 
examination  rest  upon  and  start  from  the  real  issue  at 
stake — the  salvation  of  the  Congo  races  from  the  rubber 
slave-trade.  Do  not  let  us  be  decoyed  by  what  may  prove 
a mirage,  capitulate  before  an  idea  merely  because  it  appears 
attractive.  A hideous  mistake  was  committed  twenty-two 
years  ago.  It  must  not  be  repeated.  The  Congo  natives 
have  paid  too  heavy  a price  to  international  thoughtlessness 
to  be  again  sacrificed.  Moreover,  if  we  could  suppose 
Belgium  running  the  Congo  on  Leopoldian  lines,  such  a 
condition  of  things  would  become  a grave  danger  to  the 
cause  of  international  peace. 

What  is  the  position  of  Belgium  with  regard  to  the 
Congo  to-day  ? It  is  an  extraordinary  position,  and  in 
many  respects  a most  humiliating  one.  Belgium  has  no 
legal  rights  whatsoever  over  the  King’s  enterprise,  which, 
so  far  as  she  is  concerned,  is  “a  foreign  State”  outside  the 
control  or  supervision  of  the  Belgian  Parliament  and  people.^ 


‘ They  are  active,  industrious,  very  hard-working.  The  conduct 
of  the  brave  handful  who,  at  considerable  personal  sacrifice  in  at 
least  one  case  I know,  have  endeavoured  to  save  their  country 
from  moral  complicity  in  the  rubber  slave-trade  is  absolutely 
beyond  praise.  Praise,  indeed,  in  this  case,  would  almost  savour 
of  impertinence. 

* This  has  been  repeatedly  stated  in  Parliament  by  members 
of  the  present  Belgian  Cabinet.  Again,  in  the  last  Congo  debates 
(February,  1906),  the  Belgian  Foreign  Minister,  attacking  M. 
Vandervelde’s  interpellation,  said,  “He  knows  that  the  two 
Governments  are  distinct,  and  that  we  cannot  be  rendered 
responsible  for  acts  in  which  we  have  not  participated." 

165 


Red  Rubber 


Belgium  cannot  even  insist  upon  information  being  tendered 
to  her  as  to  the  financial  and  general  management  of  that 
enterprise  by  the  King’s  Brussels  staff,  although  Belgium 
has  loaned  over  one  million  sterling  to  King  Leopold  as 
African  sovereign,  on  which  she  receives  no  interest,  and 
although  she  lends  King  Leopold  the  officers  of  her  army 
to  assist  him  in  maintaining  the  rubber  slave-trade,  and  her 
diplomatists  and  consuls  to  defend  it.  This  state  of  affairs 
has  been  brought  about  by  the  subservience  to  the  royal 
will  of  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer,  the  Belgian  Premier,  who  in 
all  matters  relating  to  the  Congo  has  placed  the  interests  of 
King  Leopold  first,  and  the  interests  of  Belgium  a long  way 
afterwards.  This  his  lengthened  tenure  of  office — due  to 
the  break  up  of  the  old  Liberal  party,  the  fear  of  Socialist 
legislation  among  the  middle  classes,  and  the  preponderance 
of  the  voting  power  of  those  classes  at  the  polls  owing  to 
the  existing  elective  system,  and  the  undoubted  increase  in 
the  country’s  prosperity — has  enabled  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer 
to  do  with  impunity.  He  has  been  in  power  twenty-three 
years,  covering  the  whole  period  of  the  rise  and  enforcement 
of  the  rubber  slave-trade.  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer’s  prede- 
cessors were,  to  some  extent  at  any  rate,  independent  of  the 
King’s  influence,  but  his  docility  has  been  remarkable,  and 
as  a reward  he  has  been  ennobled — a privilege  never  granted 
to  his  forerunners,  although  men  of  far  greater  personality 
and  mental  calibre.  Believed  to  be  above  reproach  in  his 
private  life,  politically  he  is  the  King’s  creature,  and  the 
members  of  his  Cabinet  are  merely  figureheads.  It  is  a 
puppet  government  of  which  the  strings  are  pulled  by  the 
King  who,  through  the  veil  of  a constitutional  monarchy, 
exercises  with  increasing  force  a despotic  will,  riding 
rough-shod  over  constitutional  foundations.  Never  was 
the  monarch’s  trend  of  mind  in  this  regard  shown  more 
clearly  than  in  his  recent  Manifesto,  in  which  he  lays 
down  the  law  in  matters  affecting  the  interests  of  Belgium 
as  though  no  constitutional  formulae  and  limitations  existed. 

The  events  which  have  led  up  to  the  position  in  which 
Belgium  finds  herself  in  regard  to  the  Congo  may  be 
briefly  summarised.  After  he  had  obtained  the  separate 
and  collective  recognition  of  his  African  enterprise  from 

1 66 


The  Position  of  Belgium 


the  United  States  of  America  and  the  European  Powers, 
King  Leopold  applied  for  the  sanction  of  the  Belgian 
Chambers  to  his  assuming  the  title  of  “Sovereign  of  the 
Congo  State.”  This  “ fusion  of  the  two  Crowns,”  as  it  is 
called,  was  secured,  not  without  opposition,  by  that  Belgian 
statesman  whose  high  reputation  extends  beyond  the  bounda- 
ries of  his  country,  M.  Beernaert.  It  will  be  borne  in  mind 
that  in  those  days  the  King  proclaimed  (as  he  still  proclaims 
mirabile  dictu)  that  he  was  working  solely  in  the  interests  of 
Belgium.  In  a letter  to  M.  Beernaert,  dated  August  5, 

1889,  the  King  communicated  to  that  statesman  a will 
bequeathing  to  Belgium  after  his  death  all  his  “sovereign 
rights”  over  the  Congo  “ax  they  are  recognised  by  the 
Declarations,  Conventions,  and  Treaties  concluded  since 
1884,  between  the  foreign  Powers  on  the  one  side,  the 
International  Association  of  the  Congo  and  the  Independent 
State  of  the  Congo  on  the  other.” 

The  words  italicised  should  be  carefully  retained.  The 
King’s  “sovereign  rights”  were  indeed  recognised,  but  the 
interpretation  which  the  King  has  since  placed  upon  those 
“sovereign  rights”  has  not  been  recognised.  It  has  been 
repudiated  emphatically  by  the  British  Government,  and, 
were  the  same  interpretation  adopted  by  his  possible 
successor,  that  repudiation  with  all  that  it  involves  would 
hold  good. 

The  King  intimated  in  the  above  letter  that,  if  before 
his  death  “ it  should  be  agreeable  to  the  country  {i.e.y 
Belgium)  to  establish  closer  links  with  the  Congo,  I should 
not  hesitate  to  place  them  at  its  disposal.  I should  be  happy  to 
see  it  [“  our  African  ” work^  during  my  lifetime  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  their  possession." 

This  “ free  gift  ” of  the  Congo  to  Belgium  by  a patriotic 
monarch  was  accepted  by  the  Belgian  Chambers  in  July, 

1890,  on  the  following  terms.  Belgium  was  to  have  the 
right  to  annex  the  Congo  at  any  time  within  the  ensuring 
ten  years.  She  was  to  advance  ^1,000,000  sterling  to  the 
King’s  enterprise,  paying  ^^200,000  down  and  80,000 
per  annum  during  the  specified  period.  No  interest  was  to 
be  demanded  from  the  King,  but  if  at  the  expiration  of  the 
agreement,  Belgium  refused  definitely  to  annex,  then  the 

167 


Red  Rubber 


loan  would  bear  interest  at  3J  per  cent.  No  further 
financial  liabilities  were  to  be  incurred  by  the  King  without 
the  assent  of  the  Belgian  Chambers,  a most  reasonable 
proviso,  since  Belgium  from  that  date  onwards  stood  in  the 
light  of  prospective  heir,  and  one  which  a monarch  working 
in  the  interests  of  Belgium  was  bound  to  observe,  apart 
from  his  plighted  word. 

This  “free  gift”  then  was  secured  by  Belgium  at  a first 
cost  of  / 1,000,000  (plus  interest)  to  the  Belgian  taxpayer. 

In  1898  the  Count  de  Merode  Westerloo  brought 
forward  an  annexation  project.  The  King  worked  against 
it  secretly,  and  the  Socialists  opposed  it  with  the  greatest 
violence,  especially  when  it  transpired  in  the  course  of  the 
debate  that  the  King  had  broken  his  word,  had  borrowed 
,^250,000  from  M.  de  Browne  de  Tiege,  that  the  time- 
limit  was  about  to  expire,  and  that  with  its  expiration  this 
astute  banker,  would  come  into  possession  for  ever  of  a slice 
of  territory — according  to  the  terms  of  his  private  bargain 
with  the  King — on  the  Congo  five  times  the  size  of 
Belgium.  The  patriotism  of  King  Leopold  was  equal 
already,  it  will  be  observed,  to  the  alienation  of  a substantial 
portion  of  the  “ patrimony  ” of  his  prospective  heir  ! The 
annexation  project  was  withdrawn,  and  the  Chambers  voted 
the  money  required  to  keep  out  M.  de  Browne  de  Tiege.^ 

Thus  this  “ free  gift  ” was  secured  at  a second  cost 
of  ,^250,000;  total  cost  up  to  1895  ^^1,250,000  (plus 
interest)  to  the  Belgian  tax-payer. 

When  the  time  limit  approached  for  the  expiration  of 
the  agreement  of  1890,  t.e.^  in  1901,  M.  Beernaert  drafted 
and  presented  an  annexation  bill.  The  Government 
appeared  at  first  to  acquiesce.  The  Socialists  opposed,  but 
the  Liberal  leaders  were  in  favour,  and  M.  Beernaert’s 
bill  was  assured  of  a large  majority.  Then  came  the 
King’s  dramatic  intervention.  The  infamous  decrees 
of  1891-2  which  had  converted  the  “ Congo  State  ” into  a 
piratical  undertaking  and  drenched  the  Congo  territories 
with  blood,  had  also  resulted  in  the  acquisition  of  enormous 
revenues,  and  many  more  were  in  store — future  prospects 


‘ Who  came  in  by  another  door  ! {Vide  Section  IV.) 
I68 


The  Position  of  Belgium 

were  brilliant.  The  King  was  no  longer  eager  to  place 
the  Congo  in  the  hands  of  the  Belgian  people,  no  longer 
anxious  to  give  them  the  “ full  enjoyment  ” of  his  patriotic 
schemes.  He  addressed  a letter  to  M.  Woeste,  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  clerical  majority  and  as  devoted  a henchman 
as  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer,  who  communicated  it  to  an 
astonished  House.  It  was  blunt,  autocratic,  to  the  point. 
If  annexation  were  voted  then  “that  is  to  say  before  the 
time  has  come  when  annexation  can  give  to  Belgium  all  the 
benefits  which  I wish  to  assure  herfi  the  Sovereign  would 
refuse  to  administer  the  Congo  during  the  inevitable 
interregnum.  In  other  words  he  would  withdraw  the  whole 
machinery  of  “ government  ” ! The  annexationists  were 
non-plussed.  The  Cabinet  went  over  to  the  King.  No 
law  existed  for  the  governing  of  “ Colonial  possessions.” 
The  absolutism  of  the  King’s  act  was  glossed  over  by  the 
Government  depositing  a projected  law  for  the  above 
purpose.  The  Belgian  Chambers  were  powerless.  The 
time  limit  expired.  With  it  even  the  shadowy  control 
formerly  exercised  by  Belgium  over  the  King’s  African 
enterprise  expired  also,  and  the  latter  became  completely 
independent.  The  Chambers  had  to  bow  to  the  inevitable, 
but  not  without  many  a speech  of  indignant  and  weighty 
protest.  The  Liberal  leaders  declared  that  their  acquiescence 
was  the  acquiescence  of  “resignation”  ...  “a  solution 
which,  in  our  view,  is  essentially  provisional.”  M.  de 
Lantsheere,  a prominent  member  of  the  Clerical  majority 
exclaimed  : “ The  new  position  which  has  been  created  for 
us  and  which  totally  excludes  Belgium  from  any  interven- 
tion in  Congo  affairs,  is  going  to  place  us  in  an  untenable 
situation — to  undergo  all  liabilities,  without  our  having  the 
least  power,  or  the  least  liberty  of  action.  No  one  in  the 
world  has  ever  consented  to  accept  a responsibility  which 
excludes  the  right  of  action,  and  liberty.  From  the  Belgian 
point  of  view  it  will  be  liability  for  the  acts  of  others  : from 
the  foreign  point  of  view  it  will  remain  our  liability.”  But 
the  King  got  his  own  way,  thanks  to  M.  de  Smet  de 
Naeyer,  who  has  pigeon-holed  his  projected  law  for  the 
government  of  the  “ Colonial  Possessions  of  Belgium  ” ever 
since,  although  “urgency”  was  claimed  for  it  at  the  time, 

169 


Red  Rubber 


and  the  situation  to-day  is  that  which  it  has  been  since 
1901,  that  which  M.  Beernaert  described  it  to  be  in  the 
debate  of  last  March  ; “ We  can  no  longer  obtain  accounts 
or  information  of  any  kind,  and,  notwithstanding  our  triple 
position  of  presumptive  heirs,  furnishers  of  men  and  money, 
and  creditors,  we  are,  from  the  judicial  point  of  view,  in 
exactly  the  same  situation  towards  the  Congo  as  the  other 
States  represented  at  the  Conference  of  Berlin,”  which 
declaration  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer  endorsed  by  the  words, 
“ that  is  quite  accurate.”  “ When  we  discuss  Congo  affairs 
here  ” — remarked  Mr.  Hymans,  one  of  the  foremost  leaders 
of  the  Liberal  Party,  in  the  course  of  the  aforesaid  debate, 
“ the  Government  declares  itself  incompetent  to  reply,  and 
immediately  afterwards  we  see  the  same  Minister,  who  has 
sheltered  himself  behind  this  non  possumus^  speak  and  explain 
himself  not  as  a Minister  of  the  Belgian  Government,  but 
as  an  advocate  of  the  Congo  State.  I do  not  understand 
how  the  head  of  a Government  does  not  realise  how 
abnormal  and  shocking  such  a situation  is.” 

In  the  course  of  the  March,  1906,  debate,  to  which  I have 
referred,  the  Belgian  Chamber  passed  a resolution  in  favour 
of  proceeding  without  delay  to  the  projected  law  on  the 
administration  of  the  Colonial  Possessions  of  Belgium.  The 
Chamber  meets  in  November.  Meanwhile  King  Leopold, 
frightened  for  his  revenues,  has  again  flung  out  an  ultimatum^ 
fitting  pendant  to  that  of  1901.  In  his  Manifesto  he 
roundly  declares  that  if  Belgium  ever  annexes  the  Congo 
she  must  “respect  all  engagements”  which  he  may  have 
made  with  third  parties  ! She  must  inherit  the  “obligations 
to  diminish  in  no  manner  the  integral  revenues”  or  the 
Dotnaine  Privi  and  Doma'tne  de  la  Couronne ! As  for  the 
Domaine  de  la  Couronne  its  revenues  are  for  ever  inalienable  ! 
In  other  words,  Belgium  must  bind  herself  to  maintain 
unimpaired  the  atrocious  system  of  pillage  and  grinding 
oppression  under  which  these  revenues  are  acquired,  and 
which  would  disappear  with  the  disappearance  of  that 
system.  Her  control  must  be  for  ever  excluded  from  the 
Domaine  de  la  Couronne^  e.g.^  from  a portion  of  the  Congo 
ten  times  the  size  of  Belgium.  She  must  take  over  all  the 
debts  which  the  King  has  contracted,  and  respect  the 

170 


The  Position  of  Belgium 


existing  rubber  “Companies”  whose  “ administrators ” are 
co-partners  with  the  King.  The  King  is  good  enough  to 
add  that  in  accordance  with  his  “ immutable  patriotism  ” he 
will  allow  Belgium  to  annex  when  he  considers  she  is  in  a 
position  to  reap  the  fullest  advantages  from  the  Congo 
“ patrimony,”  but  that  if  the  members  of  his  Brussels  staff 
— to  whom  the  Manifesto  is  addressed — are  respectfully  asked 
when  that  happy  moment  is  likely  to  arrive,  they  will  reply 
that  the  patrotic  monarch  has  “ nothing  to  say  at  present  ” ! 

What  aspect  does  the  “free  gift”  of  1889  take  on  in 
1906  ? 

A.  A “ free  gift  ” which  the  royal  giver  withholds  aa 
infinitum. 

B.  A “free  gift”  for  which  he  has  obtained  ^1,250,000 
out  of  the  Belgian  taxpayer  free  of  interest. 

C.  A “ free  gift  ” which  he  has  saddled  with  nominal 
liabilities — ex  the  above — of  ^9,700,000,  and  with  positive 
liabilities  the  amount  of  which  he  carefully  conceals  from 
his  prospective  heirs. 

D.  A “ free  gift,”  the  potential  value  of  which  is  de- 
creasing every  year  with  the  blood-stained  revenues  he  and 
his  associates  are  drawing  from  it. 

E.  A “ free  gift  ” for  which  he  has  acquired  from 
Belgium  the  services  of  her  officers,  diplomatists,  and  con- 
suls, sheltered  the  infamies  of  his  African  rule  in  the  folds 
of  the  Belgian  flag,  and  in  the  name  of  “ patriotism  ” sullied 
her  fair  fame  throughout  the  world. 

Is  there  on  record  a similar  instance  ot  a trusting,  ill- 
informed  nation  being  swindled  so  outrageously  and  treated 
so  contemptuously,  by  a foreign  monarch  presiding  over 
its  destinies  ? 

The  Congo  enterprise  has  certainly  created  in  Belgium 
a taste  for  foreign  commercial  expansion,  and  has  given  an 
impetus  to  Belgian  industry  abroad.  That  is  undeniable. 
But  at  what  a price  ! So  far  as  the  Congo  is  concerned, 
Belgium  as  a nation  derives  little  or  no  benefit  from  it. 
There  is  no  trade  with  the  natives.  The  produce  of  the 
country  is  extracted  by  force.  Hence  the  exports  from 
Belgium  to  the  Congo  are  insignificant.  On  the  other 
hand  the  pernicious  ideals  of  colonial  “ policy  ” introduced 

171 


Red  Rubber 


by  the  King  have  worked  moral  havoc  among  a section  at 
least  of  the  well-to-do  bourgeois  classes  of  the  country.  The 
army  has  become  impregnated  with  a detestable  virus. 
The  old  slave-trade  spirit  has  everywhere  made  inroads. 
The  Nemesis  is  certain,  is,  indeed,  approaching  with  strides 
more  rapid  than  most  persons  suppose. 

There  are  several  other  points  of  view  to  be  considered, 
both  Belgian  and  non-Belgian.  What  are  the  principal 
features  of  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer’s  projected  law  ? They 
are  such  that  if  annexation  took  place  on  those  lines, 
nothing  would  be  changed  except  that  a “ Colonial 
Minister  ” would  replace  a “ Secretary,”  and  that  “ Colonial 
Minister  ” might  very  possibly  be  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer 
himself,  to  whom  it  is  said  King  Leopold  has  offered 
the  appointment  under  certain  contingencies.  The  man 
who  has  declared  as  the  pivotal  basis  and  justification 
of  an  African  undertaking  that  “ the  native  is  entitled  to 
nothing,”!  would  be  a worthy  successor  to  Messrs,  de 
Cuvelier,  Liebrechts,  and  Droogmans.^  M.  de  Smet  de 
Naeyer’s  projected  law  retains  “ the  whole  civil,  judicial, 
financial,  military,  and  administrative  organisation  ” created 
by  the  King.  The  King  remains  invested  with  the  sole 
executive  power.  The  finances  are,  as  before,  controlled 
by  him  absolutely.  He  drafts  the  “ budgets  ” and  registers 
the  laws.  The  members  of  the  Judiciary  are,  as  before, 
subject  to  the  Executive  will,  and  revocable  ad  nutum. 
The  “ Minister  ” would  have  a seat  in  Parliament,  and 
could  only  be  interrogated  once  a year,  when  he  presented 
his  annual  report ; he  would  be,  in  effect,  quite  outside 
Cabinet  or  Parliamentary  control,  subject  only  to  the 
King.  “ It  is  easy  to  describe  the  dominating  idea  which 
presided  over  the  elaboration  of  this  project  ; to  retain  in 
the  hands  of  the  Sovereign  all  colonial  affairs,  withhold  the 
latter  as  far  as  possible  from  Parliamentary  interference, 
establish  the  financial  independence  of  the  colony  ; these, 
without  a doubt,  are  the  objects  which  its  authors  have  had 

' Official  shorthand  report  of  Belgian  Parliamentary  Debates, 
July,  1903,  and  February-March,  1906. 

“ The  principal  Secretaries  of  the  King’s  Congo  Staff  in 
Brussels. 


172 


The  Position  of  Belgium 

in  view.”^  In  other  words,  Belgium  would  in  appearance 
become  responsible  ; in  reality  she  would,  once  more,  be 
wax  in  the  King’s  hands.  It  is,  I think,  inconceivable  that 
annexation  on  this  basis  could  be  driven  through  the  Bel- 
gium Chamber,  especially  in  view  of  the  revelations  of  the 
Commission  of  Inquiry  and  of  the  contents  of  the  recent 
Manifesto,  which  seeks  to  bind  down  the  Belgians  to 
conditions  which  no  people  with  an  ounce  of  dignity  could 
agree  to.  But  assuming  the  incredible  to  happen,  a solution 
such  as  this  could  not  be  accepted  by  public  opinion  outside 
of  Belgium.  In  truth  it  would  be  no  solution,  but  an 
aggravation  of  existing  evils,  at  least  from  the  international 
point  of  view. 

Then  there  is  another  point,  and  a very  pertinent  one. 
Annexation  of  the  Congo  by  Belgium  on  the  Smet-de- 
Naeyer-royal-Manifesto  basis  I look  upon,  as  I have  said, 
as  utterly  impossible  : and  I do  not  think  I shall  be  contra- 
dicted. But  is  a majority  of  the  Belgian  Chamber  prepared 
to  annex  at  all,  even  on  national  lines,  which  are  not  the 
King’s  lines  ? Even  at  the  price  of  a conflict  with  the 
King — a conflict  which  would  necessarily  be  of  a most 
determined  and  implacable  character  ? The  liabilities, 
material  and  moral,  are  tremendous.  Large  sections  of 
the  country  are  economically  exhausted.  The  decrease 
of  the  population  is  appalling.  By  a careful  computation 
— but  which,  of  course,  can  only  be  hypothetical — based 
upon  accessible  positive  data  relating  to  depopulation,  an 
analysis  of  the  whole  evidence  which  has  been  accumulating 
since  1890,  the  ivory  and  rubber  output,  the  quantities  of 
staple  food-supplies  wrung  from  the  people,  the  spread  or 
disease,  etc.,  I estimate  that  in  the  last  fifteen  years  the 
population  of  the  Congo  has  been  decreasing  at  a minimum 
rate  of  100,000  per  annum,  or  say  1,500,000  in  the  past 
fifteen  years.  I am  convinced  that  is  the  very  lowest 
computation  compatible  with  accuracy.  Consul  Casement 
considers  it  far  too  low.  His  opinion  is  that  the  last  decade 
has  witnessed  a decline  in  the  population  by  nearly  three 
millions.  Of  the  two  opinions  his  is  likely  to  be  the 


‘ H.  Speyer,  1901.  “Comment  nous  Gouvernerons  le  Congo.” 

173 


Red  Rubber 


soundest,  because  he  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  effects 
of  the  Leopoldian  system  upon  communities  which  he  knew 
in  former  years  to  be  populous  and  thriving,  and  because  he 
is  a servant  of  the  Crown  with  twenty  years’  African  experi- 
ence. It  will  take  at  least  two,  possibly  three  generations, 
for  the  country  to  recover  from  the  havoc  of  the  last  fifteen 
years.  If  the  Congo  is  to  be  administered  not  pirated  ; if 
the  produce  of  the  soil — e.g.^  the  rubber  and  gum  copal — is 
to  be  acquired  in  future  by  legitimate  purchase  instead  of 
by  pillage,  then  there  will  be  an  immense  and  immediate 
fall  in  the  output,  and,  concurrently,  in  the  so-called 
“ public  revenues.”  The  native  peoples  in  the  exploited 
rubber  zones  are  crushed,  broken,  sick  unto  death  of  the 
very  name  of  rubber.  “ Rubber  is  death  ” — botofi  bo  le 
iwa — has  become  the  motto  of  these  races.  With  the 
withdrawal  from  the  villages  of  the  armed  sentry,  backed 
by  overwhelming  force  behind  him,  with  the  cessation  of 
hostage-taking  and  the  hundred  and  one  other  concomitants 
of  the  Leopoldian  system,  an  immense  sigh  of  relief  would 
arise  from  the  Equatorial  forest,  and  the  natural  reaction  would 
set  in.  Commerce  as  a substitute  for  force  would  revive 
only  by  slow,  very  slow,  degrees,  and  for  many  years  to  come, 
even  if  the  huge  army  were  cut  down  one-half,  and  strict 
economy  exercised  in  other  ways,  Belgium  could  only  hope 
to  run  her  dependency  at  a heavy  loss.  The  flow  of  gold 
from  the  Congo  would  be  stopped,  and  the  enterprises 
created  from  it  and  dependent  upon  its  maintenance  would 
collapse.  Then,  again,  the  burden  of  debts,  with  which 
this  “ free  gift  ” has  been  thoughtfully  loaded  by  the  giver 
for  the  greater  benefit  of  the  prospective  heir,  is  such  that, 
with  the  certainty  of  lean  years  ahead  under  decent  admini- 
stration, any  Belgian  statesman  worthy  of  the  name  would 
hesitate  once,  twice,  and  yet  again  before  asking  the  country 
to  assume  it. 

Thoughtful  Belgians  are  reckoning  all  this  up.  They 
realise  that  the  temporary  “prosperity”  of  the  Congo — that 
is  to  say  what  passes  for  prosperity,  the  gold  in  the  shape  ot 
rubber  rolling  out  of  it — depends  exclusively  upon  the  system 
of  oppression  and  tyranny  to  which  the  natives  are  subjected. 
They  know  that  the  public  edifices  which  are  being  reared 

174 


The  Position  of  Belgium 

in  Brussels  as  an  advertisement  for  the  King,  out  of  Congo 
rubber  and  Congo  loans,  and  which  Belgium  does  not 
require,  Belgium  will  have  to  pay  for  if  she  annexes  : 
and  pay  through  the  nose  for  since  they  have  been  con- 
structed regardless  of  economy.  They  know  that  with 
every  year  that  passes  the  indebtedness  of  the  King’s 
enterprise  increases,  and  with  it  the  prospective  liabilities 
of  Belgium.  They  know  that  money  has  been  borrowed 
at  28  per  cent,  discount,  and  that  Belgium,  if  she  annexes, 
will  be  mulcted  to  that  extent  with  the  bankers  who  have 
financed  the  King. 

Such,  then,  is  the  position  in  which  Belgium  finds  herself, 
thanks  to  the  complicity  of  her  Government  with  Leopold 
Africanus.  The  Clerical  (or  Conservative)  party  has  blindly 
followed  M.  de  Smet  de  Naeyer  at  the  price  of  the  abandon- 
ment by  the  King  of  his  former  agitation  in  favour  of  the 
personal  military  system  of  which  he  was  once  so  strong  an 
advocate.*  It  has  given  him  carte  blanche  so  far  as  the 
Congo  is  concerned,  and  only  now  is  that  Party  beginning 
to  realise  the  abyss  which  yawns  beneath  its  feet  and  the 
country’s. 

On  the  one  hand,  annexation  appears  the  only  escape  from 
the  intolerable  moral  position  which  leaves  Belgium  be- 
smirched by  “ the  acts  of  others,”  as  M.  de  Lantsheere 
predicted  five  years  ago.  But  annexation  on  lines  com- 
patible with  self-respect  and  common-sense  is  barred  by 
the  King,  and  short  of  a complete  capitulation  on  his 
part,  could  be  forced  through  only  by  a definite  rupture 
between  Sovereign  and  Parliament. 

On  the  other  hand,  annexation  even  at  the  price  of  a 
rupture  appears,  the  more  closely  it  is  looked  at,  as  a 
highly  questionable  proceeding  in  the  light  of  national 
interests. 

The  purchase  system  still  exists  in  Belgium.  Young  men  of 
the  well-to-do  class,  and  eligible  for  military  service,  can  obtain 
substitutes  by  payment.  This  is  very  popular  with  the  Catholic 
Party,  to  which  a large  portion  of  the  well-to-do  classes  belong, 
and  the  King’s  campaign  was  looked  npon  with  great  disfavour 
by  that  Party.  Before  he  dropped  his  agitation,  the  King 
made  sure  of  securing  Catholic  support  urbi  ei  orbi  for  his 
Congo  policy. 


17s 


Red  Rubber 


Repudiation,  absolute  and  entire,  would  carry  with  it 
of  necessity  the  withdrawal  of  all  Belgian  officers  from 
the  Congo  army — following  the  example  of  Italy — and 
the  sundering  of  all  diplomatic  connections  with  the  King’s 
African  enterprise  : and  this,  of  course,  would  also  spell 
a definite  rupture. 

Amidst  all  this  fog  of  doubt  and  uncertainity  in  which 
the  Belgian  people  find  themselves  enfolded,  a question 
is  beginning  to  form  itself  on  the  lips  of  men  : 

“ The  ‘ fusion  of  the  two  crowns  ’ was  acquiesced  in 
by  the  nation.  A nation  can  revoke  the  assent  secured 
under  false  pretences.  Can  the  wearer  of  the  Belgian 
crown  be  allowed  any  longer  to  continue  the  holder  of 
the  Congo  Sovereignty  ? ” ^ 

If  King  Leopold  does  not  abate  his  pretensions  that 
question  may  well  be  answered  by  a negative  which  might 
have  results  more  far-reaching  than  the  elevation,  before 
natural  causes  called  for  it,  of  Prince  Albert  to  the  throne 
of  Belgium. 


' The  “ fusion  of  the  two  crowns  ” was  merely  a voluntary 
act  on  the  part  of  the  Chamber.  It  is  in  no  sense  a statute 
in  the  Constitution  of  Belgium.  The  assent  can  be  revoked. 
But  the  King  can  also  revoke  his  will ! He  can  leave  the 
Congo  to  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  the  Editor  of  La  Verite  sur  le 
Congo,  or  Sir  Alfred  Jones  if  he  likes,  according  to  the  lines  of 
his  Manifesto. 


176 


SECTION  OF  VILLAGE 


IV 

WHAT  GREAT  BRITAIN  CAN  DO 

Extracts  from  speeches  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  House 
of  Lords ; — 

“ It  had  always  been  the  boast  of  this  country,  not  only  that 
our  own  native  subjects  were  governed  on  principles  of  justice, 
but  that  ever  since  the  days  of  Wilberforce,  England  had  been 
the  leader  in  all  movements  on  behalf  of  the  backward  races  of 
the  earth.  Here  was  an  occasion  when  those  responsible  for  our 
policy,  basing  themselves  on  a treaty  publicly  and  solemnly  made, 
might  pursue  those  great  traditions,  and  by  taking  the  initiative 
in  this  matter  might  add  to  the  annals  of  the  good  deeds  of  this 
country." — Mr.  Herbert  Samuel  (1903). 

“ It  was  obvious  that  there  was  a complete  enslavement  of  the 
whole  population.  As  the  suppressors  of  slavery  and  the  slave- 
trade  we  had  always  led  Europe,  and  had  the  highest  degree  of 
responsibility  under  the  engagement  of  the  Powers  at  Berlin  to 
watch  over  the  execution  of  the  Berlin  Act  for  the  protection  of 
the  natives.” — Sir  Charles  Dilke  (1903). 

“ The  treaties  made  between  the  Congo  State  and  ourselves  had 
undoubtedly  been  over-ridden,  and,  therefore,  he  supposed  the 
Under  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  would  not  deny  their  right  to 
interfere.  Then  arose  the  question,  was  it  expedient  that  they 
should  do  so  ? His  answer  to  that  was  in  the  affirmative.” — Sir 
John  Gorst  (1903). 

“He  thought  we  could  do  something  alone.” — Mr.  Alfred 
Emmott  (1903). 

“He  altogether  denied  that  they  could  deal  with  the  Congo 
State  as  if  it  were  a State  like  France,  Austria,  Germany,  or  any 
other  Power.  The  Congo  Free  State  was  an  artificial  creation." 
— Lord  Fitzmaurice  (1903). 

“In  face  of  the  facts  which  are  now  officially  admitted,  he 
asked  the  House  whether  the  time  was  not  come  when  they 

177  13 


Red  Rubber 


should  sweep  away  all  the  difficulties  which  stood  in  the  way  and 
force  the  Government  to  take  stronger  action  than  mere  words 
in  despatehes,  to  deal  with  this  horrible  scandal.” — Sir  Charles 
Dilke  (1904), 

“He  was  driven  to  the  conclusion,  therefore,  that  the  only 
remedy  was  for  the  public  opinion  of  Europe,  and  particularly 
of  this  country,  to  bring  into  force  the  clause  of  the  Convention 
under  which  the  Free  State  was  founded.” — Mr.  Austin  Taylor 
(1904). 

“The  Congo  Free  State  lay  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  this 
country  or  any  other  country  which  chose  to  say  it  would  occupy 
the  capital  at  Boma  in  the  name  of  civilisation.” — Lord  Fitz- 
MAURiCE  (1904). 

“ There  has  never  been  a policy  of  which  it  might  be  said  as 
truly  as  of  this  one  that  it  was  the  policy  not  so  much  of  His 
Majesty’s  Government  as  the  policy  of  the  House  of  Commons.” 
— Lord  Percy  (1904). 

“ He  did  not  think  any  of  the  great  European  Powers,  with  the 
facts  so  clearly  established  as  they  now  were,  ought  to  be  content, 
in  view  of  their  own  honour  in  the  matter,  to  sit  still  and  do 
nothing.” — Sir  Edward  Grey  (1904). 

“ Our  own  position  in  Africa  must  be  considered.  The  infamous 
treatment  of  the  natives  in  the  Congo  Free  State  must  affect  the 
position  of  the  natives  throughout  Africa.  The  knowledge  of  the 
injustice  inflicted  upon  the  natives  in  the  Congo  Free  State  was 
carried  by  those  subterranern  wires,  which  all  natives  employed, 
from  one  part  of  the  continent  to  the  other,  and  was  bound  to 
affect  the  condition  of  the  natives  under  the  British,  German,  and 
French  flags.” — Sir  Gilbert  Parker  (1906). 

“We  held  a national  responsibility.  . . . The  right  of  inter- 
vention seemed  to  him  to  be  clear  beyond  dispute.” — Sir  Charles 
Dilke  (1906). 

“ Apart  altogetherjfrom  treaty  obligations,  every  State  interested 
in  any  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  Congo  comprised  in  the 
Convention  had  not  only  the  right,  but  was  under  the  obligation, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  self-interest,  to  consider  how  far  the 
present  system  of  misgovernment  carried  with  it  a serious  menace 
to  the  reputation  and  even  to  the  security  of  the  European 
Governments.” — Lord  Percy  (1906). 

“ But  I may  add  quite  irrespective  of  any  right  we  enjoy  under 
the  letter  of  these  Acts,  that  we  have  a moral  right  to  interfere, 
which  comes  to  us  in  consequence  of  the  false  pretences — 
I cannot  use  a gentler  word — under  which  the  Congo  State  has 
acquired  its  privileged  position  in  that  part  of  Africa.’’ — Lord 
Lansdowne  (1906). 


In  the  last  three  chapters  I have  endeavoured  to  establish 
that  from  King  Leopold  no  alteration  in  the  existing  state 

178 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


of  affairs  on  the  Congo  is  to  be  looked  for ; that  to  expect 
“reform”  from  that  quarter  would  be  puerile ; that  “reform” 
can  only  come  with  a sweeping  removal  of  the  cause  of  the 
evil  by  cauterising  the  evil  at  its  roots.  If  there  was  ever  a 
case  where  the  old  French  adage  ll  faut  frapper  a la  the 
applied  ; surely  this  is  one. 

I have  tried  to  show  also  how  extremely  difficult,  not  to 
say  virtually  helpless — short  of  a complete  rupture  between 
King  and  Parliament — is  the  position  of  Belgium,  and  how 
foolish  it  would  be  to  regard  Belgian  annexation  as  a certain 
panacea  within  the  pale  of  practical  politics,  or  even  as  a neces- 
sarily certain  panacea  if  it  were  within  that  pale.  Hostility 
to  a Belgian  annexation  of  the  Congo  on  the  lines  laid  down 
by  the  Berlin  and  Brussels  Acts,  there  is  none  in  this  country. 
But  it  is  obvious  that  agreement  to  a Belgian  annexation  on 
the  lines  laid  down  by  the  King  is  utterly  impossible.  The 
neutrality  of  Belgium  is  guaranteed  by  the  Powers  in  the 
interests  of  international  peace.  The  neutrality  of  a Belgian 
Colony  embracing  the  great  heart  of  Africa  and  run  like  a 
slave-farm  through  the  medium  of  an  ever-growing  native 
soldiery  armed  with  weapons  of  precision,  could  be  recog- 
nised by  no  Power  with  tropical  dependencies  contiguous  to 
its  frontiers.  As  it  is,  the  policy  of  laissez  faire  adopted  by 
the  signatory  Powers  of  the  Act  of  the  West  African 
Conference  of  1885  having  possessions  in  Tropical  Africa,  in 
permitting  the  evolution  of  an  International  Association  for 
the  promotion  of  civilisation  and  commerce,  from  a “ Congo 
Free  State,”  to  a military  despotism  resting  upon  slavery 
and  rifles,  is  incredibly  short-sighted.  To  allow  such  a 
condition  of  things  to  continue,  with  the  substitution  of  the 
Belgian  for  the  Congo  flag  of  King  Leopold,  would  be 
insensate.  Apart  from  all  questions  of  humanity  and 
legitimate  political  interest  in  Africa,  acquiescence  would 
imperil  Belgian  neutrality  in  Europe.  Of  that  no  one  who 
understands  this  grave  question  can  entertain  the  slightest 
doubt. 

But,  after  all,  we  have  not  to  consider  possibilities,  but 
actualities.  Discussion,  passionate  or  otherwise,  can  be 
renewed  and  yet  again  renewed  in  the  Belgian  Parliament ; 
the  projected  law  on  the  colonial  possessions  of  Belgium, 

179 


Red  Rubber 


may  give  rise  to  endless  debates.  Compared  with  the 
existing  facts,  all  this  is  academic.  Existing  facts  they  are 
which  confront  us  ; which  call  out  for  immediate  solution, 
drastic  and  thorough.  The  rubber  slave-trade  flourishes, 
unchecked,  unimpaired,  unaltered  by  all  the  talk  and  ink- 
spilling  of  the  last  four  years.  It  has  been  exposed  in  all  its 
horrors.  But  it  is  in  being,  its  activity  has  been  stimulated 
by  a sense  of  precariousness  in  the  future,  its  area  of  devasta- 
tion increases,  and  with  it  the  number  of  victims.  That  is 
the  immediate  consideration.  All  else  is  subsidiary. 

****** 

The  year  1907  is  a great  anniversary,  bringing  with  it  a 
flood  of  recollections.  The  26th  of  March,  1907,  will  be 
the  centenary  of  the  Royal  Assent  to  the  Bill  passed  in 
both  Houses  of  Parliament  abolishing  the  Over-Sea  Slave- 
T rade. 

From  the  ashes  or  an  international  conference,  summoned 
in  the  name  of  Almighty  God,  has  sprung  a traffic  in  African 
misery  more  devilish  than  the  old,  more  destructive,  more 
permanently  ruinous  in  its  cumulative  effects.  A British 
Government  (a  Liberal  Government)  with  many  misgivings 
but  with  the  best  of  intentions,  by  its  active  participation  in 
that  conference,  and  by  its  adhesion  to  the  conclusions 
thereof,  incurred  a responsibility  which  cannot  be  set  aside. 
To-day  a British  Government  (a  Liberal  Government)  is  in 
power  with  an  enormous  majority,  strong  and  respected 
abroad,  and  has  been  given  a mandate  by  a democratic 
Parliament  convinced  and  unanimous  to  deal  with  this  new 
form  of  the  African  slave-trade,  which  the  cupidity  and  the 
baneful  ambitions  of  one  man  have  reared  in  the  heart  of 
Africa.  Behind  a unanimous  Parliament,  stands  a united 
Press.  This  Government,  and  its  predecessor  in  office, 
have  both  alike  addressed  numerous  protests  to  the  author 
of  the  evil,  publicly  and  privately;  protests  which  have  not 
merely  been  ignored  in  the  sense  of  effecting  improvement, 
but  treated  with  contempt  so  marked  as  to  be  perilously 
akin  to  insult. 

The  evil  continues. 

180 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


This  Government  and  its  predecessor  in  office  have  both 
alike  held  their  hand  when  they  could  have  struck  hard  and 
swift,  and  in  strict  conformity  with  the  Treaty  rights  of 
Great  Britain. 

The  evil  continues. 

Two  years  ago  the  predecessor  of  the  present  Govern- 
ment invited  formally  the  co-operation  of  the  other  signa- 
tories to  the  West  African  Conference  of  1885,  to  join  with 
them  in  handling  this  evil  j but  the  invitation  was  not 
accepted. 

The  evil  continues. 

A few  months  ago  the  present  Government  reiterated 
informally  that  invitation. 

The  evil  continues,  and  the  author  of  the  evil,  in  an 
insolent  Manifesto  addressed  to  his  secretaries,  and  directed 
at  Great  Britain,  has  defied  the  British  Government  to 
carry  out  the  mandate  given  to  it  by  Parliament,  placing 
himself  above  the  reach  of  pledges  and  the  law  of  nations. 

And  the  great  anniversary  is  upon  us. 

We  have  put  our  hands  to  the  plough.  We  cannot  draw 
back.  For  the  sake  of  our  dignity  as  a great  nation  ; for  the 
sake  of  our  traditions  as  the  emancipators  of  the  races  of 
Africa ; as  an  African  power  having  legitimate  interests  to 
maintain,  “ we  cannot  wait  for  ever.”  i 

But  have  we  not  waited  long  enough  ? Surely  the  cup  is 
full  and  overflowing  ? 

Internationally  our  position  has  seldom  been  stronger,  nor 
the  home  popularity  which  would  attend  positive  action 
more  assured  to  our  Government  from  e\ery  section  or 
public  opinion.  So  strong,  indeed,  do  we  consider  ourselves 
to  be  that  from  this  country,  from  its  Foreign  Minister, 
has  come  the  first  clear  proposal  for  a reduction  in  the 
world’s  armaments  ; from  this  country,  from  its  Premier 
and  leader  in  the  Mother  of  Parliaments,  has  come  a 
message  of  sympathy  addressed  to  the  youngest  of  Parlia- 


' Sir  E.  Grey,  July,  1906. 
181 


Red  Rubber 


merits  under  circumstances  which  make  of  that  message  an 
historic  pronouncement  in  favour  of  the  liberties  of  men. 
Are  we,  then,  not  strong  enough  to  rescue  the  races  ot 
Central  Africa  from  enslavement  and  destruction  at  the 
hands  of  the  man  to  whom  we  entrusted  their  destinies  ? 

While  we  wait,  they  perish,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
they  should.  No  interests  of  a great  misguided  nation  are 
concerned.  No  ' sentiments  imbued  in  generations  of 
thought  have  to  be  rooted  up  and  educated  out  of  existence. 
No  cataclysm  in  world  politics  hangs  in  the  balance.  No 
onrush  of  religious  fanaticism  is  to  be  apprehended. 
Action  to  stay  the  extirpation  of  these  African  peoples  is 
attended  by  none  of  the  perils  bound  up  with  the  conflict- 
ing international  claims  and  racial  animosities,  which 
make  a satisfactory  settlement  of  the  Eastern  question  so 
difficult. 

There  is  action  we  ourselves  can  take  in  virtue  of  Treaty 
rights,  which  in  itself  would  almost  of  necessity  give  rise 
automatically  to  a renewed  international  conference.  What 
is  that  action  ? Let  us  turn  to  the  declarations  exchanged 
and  the  convention  passed  with  the  representative  of  King 
Leopold  in  1884.  We  recognised  the  flag  of  the  Inter- 
national Association  on  specific  grounds.  What  were  they  ? 
That  the  Association  had  come  into  existence  “ for  the  pur- 
pose of  promoting  the  civilisation  and  commerce  of  Africa, 
and  for  other  humane  and  benevolent  purposes.”  Twenty- 
two  years  later  we  find  that  King  Leopold’s  enterprise 
consists,  not  in  “promoting  civilisation  and  commerce”  but 
— as  admirably  defined  by  Lord  Percy  in  the  House  of 
Commons — “in  the  accumulation  of  rubber  at  an  infinite 
cost  of  human  life  and  suffering,”  for  “ mercenary  motives,” 
to  quote  Lord  Lansdowne.  We  have  been  grossly  deceived, 
therefore,  and  in  that  deception  practised  upon  us  resides  a 
prima  facie  case  for  declining  any  longer  to  regard  King 
Leopold’s  African  flag  as  the  emblem  of  a civilised  adminis- 
tration. An  administration  whose  object  is  to  accumulate 
rubber  at  an  infinite  cost  to  human  life  and  suffering,  as 
deliberately  stated  in  the  British  House  of  Commons  by  the 
Under  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  has  no  call  upon 
our  recognition  in  any  case  ; still  less  so  when  such  an  object 

J82 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


is  totally  at  variance  with  solemn  pledges  made  to  us  in  the 
past.  The  steamers  which  King  Leopold  employs  under 
his  African  flag  can  be  declined  admittance  to  British  terri- 
torial waters.  At  present  they  enter  our  ports,  and  at  the 
most  the  Treasury  would  lose  ^l,ooo  per  annum  in  the 
light  dues  and  other  port  charges  they  pay.  Not  the  most 
virulent  lady  hater  of  Mr.  Asquith  would  attribute  to  him  a 
desire  to  oppose  the  performance  of  a national  duty  for  the 
sake  of  ,^1,000.  The  nominees  King  Leopold  has  ap- 
pointed to  represent  exclusively  his  African  interests  in  this 
country  can  be  informed  that  we  no  longer  recognise  them  ; 
in  other  words,  the  exequator  can  be  withdrawn  from  the 
three  or  four  “Congo  Free  State”  Consuls  who  carry  on 
their  royal  master’s  behests  in  England  and  in  Scotland,  and 
whose  offices  were  until  recently — when  public  attention 
was  drawn  to  the  fact — distributing  centres  for  the  scurrilous 
publications  of  the  Press  Bureau.  It  is  a scandal  that  one 
of  these  “ consuls  ” should  be  an  Englishman  and  the  Presi- 
dent of  a leading  British  Chamber  of  Commerce.  Other 
measures  are  open  to  us.  Those  I have  denoted  are  the 
mildest,  and  absolutely  no  impediment  stands  in  the  way  ot 
their  realisation. ^ I pass  to  the  Convention. 

What  are  our  rights  under  that  Convention  ? They  are 
(i)  that  “ until  sufficient  provision  shall  have  been  made  for 
the  administration  of  justice  ” on  the  Congo,  “ the  sole  and 
exclusive  jurisdiction  both  civil  and  criminal  over  the 
persons  and  property  of  British  subjects”  shall  be  vested  in 
British  Consular  Officers  “ in  accordance  with  British  law.” 
(Article  V.)  This  is  called  consular  jurisdiction  ; or  the 
exercise  of  rights  of  extra-territoriality.  They  are  (2)  that 
British  subjects  are  entitled  at  all  times  to  “sojourn”  and 
“establish  themselves”;  are  entitled  to  enjoy  the  rights  of 
“buying,”  “selling,”  “letting  and  hiring  lands,  buildings. 


‘ If  King  Leopold  attempted  to  retaliate  we  have  merely  to 
state  that  the  Congo  is  an  international  highway  not  a private 
demesne ; and  that  there  are  British  subjects  on  the  Congo, 
making  the  presence  of  British  Consuls  imperative  for  their 
protection.  There  are  no  Congolese  subjects  in  Great  Britain  ' 
If  King  Leopold  forced  the  issue,  well  . . . . ! 

183 


Red  Rubber 


mines  and  forests,”  “ founding  houses  of  commerce,”  “carry- 
ing on  commerce  under  the  British  flag”;  they  are  entitled 
to  “ protection,”  in  “ their  persons,”  “ property,”  “ free 
exercise  of  religion,”  “ navigation,  commerce,  and  industry.” 
(Article  II.) 

Very  good.  These  pledges  have  not  been  kept.  The 
need  for  British  consular  jurisdiction  for  the  protection  of 
our  own  subjects  in  King  Leopold’s  estate  is  nowhere,  and 
by  no  one  disputed  in  this  country.  The  present  Govern- 
ment does  not  dispute  it.  The  past  Government  did  not 
dispute  it.  Speaking  in  office.  Lord  Percy  said  on  June  9, 
1904,  “the  only  practicable  suggestion  which,  I think, 
has  been  made  this  afternoon,  is  that  this  country  should 
revive  its  claim  to  the  exercise  of  extra-territorial  juris- 
diction in  the  Congo  State.”  Sir  Edward  Grey,  speaking  in 
opposition  on  the  same  occasion,  concurred  ; “ He  thought 
we  might  put  the  establishment  of  consuls  (with  consular 
jurisdiction)  on  the  ground  that  if  other  Powers  would  not 
co-operate  with  us  in  this  matter,  in  what  we  considered 
the  general  interests  of  humanity  and  civilisation,  which 
were  as  much  theirs  as  ours,  we  must  at  any  rate  see  to  the 
protection  of  our  own  subjects.”  Speaking  in  July  last.  Sir 
Edward  Grey  said  : “ The  time  must  come  when  we  shall 
have  to  consider  whether  . . . these  rights  should  not  be 
exercised.”  On  the  same  occasion  Lord  Lansdowne  said  ; 
“ All  I can  say  is  that  I hope,  if  these  abuses  continue,  we 
shall  claim  our  right  to  appoint  consuls  (with  consular  juris- 
diction) in  the  Congo.”  At  the  very  least  one  hundred 
public  meetings — including  two  town’s  meetings,  in  Liver- 
pool and  Sheffield — held  throughout  England  and  Scotland 
in  the  last  two  years,  have  passed  resolutions  urging  this  step 
upon  the  Government.  The  marvel  is  that  it  was  not  taken 
years  and  years  ago.  British  coloured  subjects  ill-treated, 
flogged,  and  shot  ; an  Englishman  hung  out  of  hand  ; a 
British  Consul  so  busy  for  two  years  inquiring  into  grave 
abuses  perpetrated  towards  British  coloured  subjects  in  the 
very  neighbourhood  of  the  capital  of  the  Congo  itself,  as  to 
be  unable  to  stir  from  the  spot — and  all  this  while  a weapon 
lies  rusting  in  our  grasp  ! And  now  King  Leopold’s  anger 
is  turned  upon  the  British  missionaries  ; his  so-called 

184 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


“administration  of  justice”  is  utilised  to  entrap  and 
browbeat  them  ; his  object,  to  terrify  them  into  silence ; 
furious  that  they  convinced  his  own  Commission — they 
whom  his  Press  Bureau  and  his  Brussels  staff  have  reviled 
with  every  opprobrious  epithet — which  placed  on  record  that 
the  natives  had  come  to  regard  them  as  “ the  sole  represen- 
tatives of  justice  and  equity  ” in  the  country  ; and  still  we 
hesitate.  To  leave  these  brave  men — they  are  not  all  brave, 
perhaps,  but  many  of  them  are,  and  to  those  who  have 
spoken  out,  humanity  owes  a debt  of  gratitude — to  leave 
them  at  the  mercy  of  Congo  “justice”  is  to  acquiesce  in 
their  dragooning,  is  to  show  them  that  whatever  the  British 
public  may  think  of  their  devotion  in  the  cause  of  right,  a 
British  Government  which  to-morrow  can  ensure  for  them 
absolute  security  from  molestation  of  any  kind,  looks 
askance  upon  their  intolerable  situation.  Our  duty  towards 
these  men  is  clear,  and  our  duty  towards  the  2,000  coloured 
subjects  of  the  Crown  on  the  Congo  is  equally  emphatic. 
They  are  entitled  to  claim  protection  ; Gives  romanum  sunt. 
The  case  for  consular  jurisdiction  for  our  own  subjects  is, 
on  the  face  of  it,  overwhelming. 

But  consular  jurisdiction  has  several  other  sides  to  it. 
Cases  have  occurred  of  British  coloured  subjects  being 
employed  as  subordinate  agents  in  charge  of  out-stations  in 
the  bush  (rubber  stations)  and  having  committed,  or  allowed 
to  be  committed,  in  that  capacity  the  brutalities  which  are 
inseparable  from  such  work,  and  having  been  sentenced  by 
the  Congo  Courts,  whose  severity  towards  such  virtually 
helpless  victims  of  the  system  is  proportionate  to  the  criminal 
laxity  shown  towards  the  real  guilty  parties,  the  European 
representatives  of  the  King  and  his  Trusts,  whose  instruc- 
tions the  former  must  needs  obey.  There  is  a tendency  on 
the  part  of  the  Foreign  Office  to  adopt  a high,  moral,  wash- 
our-hands  sort  of  attitude  in  regard  to  British  coloured 
subjects  thus  involved.  Several  questions  which  I have 
caused  to  be  put  in  the  House  relating  to  specific  cases 
which  came  under  my  notice  have  been  greeted  as  though 
there  were  something  shocking  and  irregular  in  the  slightest 
exhibition  of  concern  in  the  fate  of  such  unfortunates.  It 
is  an  attitude  with  which  I am  wholly  unable  to  agree.  So 

iSs 


Red  Rubber 


long  as  the  Congo  judicial  system  is  what  it  is  {vide  Section 
III  .)  so  long  will  there  be  no  thorough  investigation  into 
outrages  perpetrated  by  or  through  the  orders  of  persons 
directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  the  Executive,  and  so 
long  will  the  Congo  Courts  fail  to  deal  competently  with 
cases  of  British  coloured  subjects  who  from  time  to  time 
may  find  themselves  mixed  up  in  such  outrages.  Take,  for 
example,  the  case  of  Silvanus  Jones,  a native  of  Lagos  and  a 
subordinate  of  the  man  Caudron  {vide  Section  III.).  If  that 
case  had  been  brought  before  a British  court  it  would  have 
yielded  clear  evidence  of  the  moral  complicity  of  the 
supreme  Executive.  That  evidence  is,  indeed,  afforded  by 
the  verdict  of  the  court  itself,  but  is  purposely  obscured  by 
the  refusal  of  the  court  to  pronounce  an  opinion  on  the 
admissions  showing  Executive  toleration  for  the  deeds  which 
the  accused — acting  under  the  direct  orders  of  his  immediate 
chief,  Caudron,  who  himself  acted  in  co-operation  with  the 
local  sub-chief  of  police — is  alleged  to  have  committed. 
The  vital  point  is  this^  that  no  British  Consular  Court  would 
have  pronounced  judgment  upon  Silvanus  Jones  without  sifting 
to  the  bottom  the  responsibility  for  the  acts  sanctioned  by  him 
under  the  instructions  of  his  European  employer.  Now  one  ot 
the  most  essential  needs  of  the  situation  is  the  securing  of 
positive  documentary  evidence  in  this  regard,  and  British 
Consular  jurisdiction  would  be  an  invaluable  and  unique 
means  to  this  end  in  cases  like  that  of  Silvanus  Jones. 
Consider,  too,  the  personal  aspect.  A.  The  British  Consul 
in  the  Congo  reports  that  Jones  “ had  no  opportunity  of 
engaging  counsel  ” although  he  had  enough  money  to  do  so 
if  the  option  had  been  allowed  him.  B.  He  was  sentenced 
to  ten  years’  imprisonment  for  responsibility  in  the  murder 
of  one  woman  killed  in  the  course  of  a raid  upon  a native 
village  for  shortage  in  rubber.  C.  Caudron,  under  whose 
orders  he  acted,  was  proved  to  have  conducted  raids  which 
led  to  the  positive  murder  of  200  people,  of  personally 
shooting  a woman  in  the  breast,  of  ordering  a native  chief 
to  be  shot  in  prison,  etc.,  and  only  received  five  years’ 
imprisonment. 

The  case  of  Cyrus  Smith,  of  Freetown,  is  another  in 
point.  He  had  taken  hostages — which,  the  reader  will 

1 86 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


remember,  the  Governor-General  himself  has  authorised 
and,  indeed,  recommended  upon  numerous  occasions — for 
shortage  in  rubber,  and  the  hostages,  most  of  them  women 
and  children,  had  died  of  hunger.  His  defence  was  a 
simple  one.  He  had  nothing  to  give  them  to  eat ! 
Atrocious  as  this  bald  statement  sounds,  let  the  reader 
turn  to  the  admissions  made  by  the  Commission  of 
Inquiry  (Sections  III.  and  IV.)  in  connection  with  the 
food  taxes,  and  bear  in  mind  that  such  things  as  women 
dying  in  prison  of  starvation  are  all  part  and  parcel  of, 
inevitable  incidents  in,  a vast  system  of  criminal  oppression 
to  obtain  revenues  by  armed  force  for  private  ends.  The 
Court  which  tried  him,  and  sentenced  him,  found  that  he 
too  was  acting  with  the  toleration  of  the  authorities  in 
taking  hostages.  I repeat,  then,  that  far  from  putting  on  a 
mantle  of  superior  righteousness  over  these  cases,  it  is  the 
bounden  duty  of  the  British  Government  to  provide  the 
machinery  requisite  for  plumbing  them  to  their  deepest 
depths. 

So  far  we  have  considered  Consular  jurisdiction  mainly 
in  the  light  of  the  legitimate  interests  of  British  subjects, 
and  to  this  I shall  refer  again  in  dealing  with  the  missionary 
question.  But  as  a means  of  coping  with  the  paramount 
evil,  the  ill-treatment  of  the  natives  of  the  country, 
the  efficacy  of  British  Consular  Courts  can  be  doubted 
only  by  those  who  have  not  examined  the  subject.  “ I do 
not  care  in  the  least,”  said  Lord  Lansdowne  last  July, 
“whether  there  are  British  subjects  to  look  after  or  not, 
but  what  I do  feel  is  that  the  presence  of  half  a dozen 
Englishmen  will  be  worth  more  than  a whole  row  of 
inspectors  or  officials  belonging  to  the  Administration  of 
the  Congo  Free  State.”  Precisely,  but  the  contention  can 
be  amplified.  A British  Court  of  Justice  once  set  up  on 
the  Congo  with  sole  jurisdiction  over  British  subjects,  civil 
and  criminal,  would  hamper  at  every  turn  the  working  of 
the  system  of  injustice  perpetrated  towards  the  people  of  the 
land.  The  aborigines  would  be  profoundly  impressed  by 
the  knowledge,  of  which  they  would  receive  ocular  demon- 
stration, that  the  humblest  Kru-boy,  the  veriest  steamer 
hand  or  carpenter  “boy”  of  slave-blood  was  certain  of 


Red  Rubber 


absolute  justice  in  the  teeth  of  the  highest  in  the  land, 
provided  he  were  a British  subject.  They  would  com- 
pare the  position  of  such  men  with  their  own  miserable 
existence,  a position  incomparably  more  secure  than  that 
of  the  oldest  and  most  venerable  indigenous  chief.  They 
would  realise  what  white  justice  at  its  best  really  was,  and 
with  that  revelation  would  arise  in  their  crushed  spirits  the 
glimmering  of  a new  hope.  The  moral  effect  would  react  in  a 
hundred  ways  against  the  present  rigime.  The  independence 
in  wrong-doing,  the  right  to  work  iniquity  and  fear  no 
question  would  be  struck  at  in  its  very  roots,  in  the  face 
of  a tribunal  whose  sole  duty  it  would  be  to  find  the  truth 
and  proclaim  it.  It  is  impossible  to  suppose  the  present 
machinery  of  the  Congo  Courts  sitting  side  by  side  with  a 
British  Court  without  producing  results  from  which,  inter 
alioy  the  natives  of  the  country  would  derive  incalculable 
benefit.  So  much  for  the  moral  and  material  aspect  of 
Consular  jurisdiction  on  the  Congo. 

The  moral  effect  in  Europe  of  the  establishment  or 
British  Consular  jurisdiction  on  the  Congo  would  be 
immense.  It  would  show  the  world  that  the  British 
people  were  determined  to  mark,  by  a step  whose  signifi- 
cance could  not  be  mistaken,  their  abhorrence  of  King 
Leopold’s  methods,  and  their  firm  intention  of  passing 
from  words  to  deeds.  Our  right  to  so  act  is  unquestion- 
able, and  if  any  of  the  signatory  Powers  ot  the  West 
African  Conference  were  disposed  to  see  in  such  a step 
a disquieting  indication  of  exclusive  British  political  inter- 
ference in  the  affairs  of  the  Congo,  well,  the  remedy  would 
lie  with  them.  They  could  assent  to  our  demand,  made  in 
the  general  interests  of  humanity,  for  an  International  Con- 
ference. Moreover,  they  could  copy  our  policy,  for  several 
of  them  stipulated  in  1884  for  the  same  rights  as  our- 
selves. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  himself  met  that  possible,  but  unlikely, 
difficulty  in  his  usual  straightforward  manner  two  years 
ago.  If  the  “susceptibilities”  of  other  Powers  should  be 
aroused  by  such  action,  he  said,  “ then  by  all  means  let 
them  appoint  consuls  of  their  own,”  meaning,  of  course, 
as  is  clear  from  the  text,  consuls  with  consular  jurisdiction. 

188 


what  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


And  for  the  rest  we  have,  perhaps,  consulted  the  “suscepti- 
bilities” of  other  Powers  too  much  in  refraining  from 
talcing  action  which  has  been  open  to  us,  not  as  co-signa- 
tories of  the  Act  of  the  West  African  Conference,  but 
under  our  own  treaty  rights  with  King  Leopold,  rights 
which  can  be  contested  by  no  Power  or  Powers.  The 
sooner  we  show  other  Powers  that  we  are  in  earnest,  the 
sooner  will  talk  give  way  to  something  more  practical. 
To  obtain  collective  action — at  which  we  aim — an  indi- 
vidual lead  is  of  paramount  necessity. 

What  of  our  rights  under  Article  II.  of  the  Convention  ? 
Commercial  rights  entailing  the  freedom  of  purchase  and 
of  sale,  of  buying  and  of  leasing  land,  of  every  other  thing 
needful  to  the  prosecution  of  legitimate  trade  ? I refer  to 
the  general  commercial  position  later  on,  contenting  myself 
at  this  stage  with  the  remark  that  as  commerce  of  any  kind, 
by  any  one,  was  swept  from  the  vast  Upper  Congo  in  1891, 
so  have  our  rights  under  that  Article  been  cynically  in- 
fringed. What  of  the  rights  of  British  missions  and 
missionaries  under  Article  II.  ? How  are  they  inter- 
preted by  King  Leopold  ? I do  not  know  the  exact 
figures,  but  I think  I shall  be  well  within  the  mark  in 
stating  that  the  British  missionary  societies  have  spent 
some  300,000  on  the  Congo.  From  the  purely  secular 
aspect  this  is  a national  interest  which  cannot  be  lightly 
ignored  by  a British  Government.  The  money  thus 
expended  has  come  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  British 
philanthropic  public.  It  is  entitled  to  consideration.  Oi 
late  King  Leopold  has  quietly  opposed  the  development  and 
extension  of  all  religious  propaganda  on  the  Congo,  Roman 
Catholic  and  Protestant.  It  is  true  that  he  recently  con- 
ferred special  facilities  upon  an  English  Roman  Catholic 
organisation,  granting  it  sites  in  close  proximity  with  a 
Protestant  mission  ; but  this  is  an  exception,  and  was  due 
to  the  expectation  and  the  hope  of  affording  an  opportunity 
for  sectarian  controversy,  and  to  reap  all  the  capital  from 
that  which  was  possible  ; to  draw,  as  he  has  tried  to  do  for 
long  enough,  the  red  herring  of  religious  squabbles  across 
the  bloody  trail  of  native  persecution.  The  spokesmen  of 
the  Belgian  Roman  Catholic  Missions  in  Belgium,  how- 

189 


Red  Rubber 


ever,  are  no  less  emphatic  in  their  protests  at  the  obstacles 
thrown  in  the  way  of  Christian  propaganda  on  the  Congo 
than  are  the  Protestant  missionaries.^  Towards  the  latter 
King  Leopold’s  policy  is  one  of  open  hostility.  Round 
some  of  the  mission  stations  he  is  making  a waste.  He 
refuses  to  sell  new  sites  for  extension  of  work.  “We 
emphatically  protest  against  the  repeated  refusal  to  sell 
sites  for  mission  stations  to  our  societies,”  says  a protest 
and  appeal  signed  by  fifty-two  evangelical  missionaries  ot 
all  nationalities — representing  the  totality  of  their  brethren, 
perhaps  some  hundred  and  fifty  in  all — assembled  in  con- 
ference at  Stanley  Pool  on  January  i6th  of  this  year.  He 
offers  impossible  sites  for  leases  on  impossible  terms.  In 
1898  the  Congo  Balolo  Mission  desired  to  open  up  on  the 
Juapa  river.  Permission  was  granted  ; difficulties  followed. 
The  game  of  Jekyl  and  Hyde  is  time-honoured  on  the 
Congo.  Finally  the  party  of  missionaries  were  turned  oft 
“ by  force.”  They  were  not  permitted  a glimpse  into  the 
interior  of  the  Domaine  de  la  Couronne  through  which  the 
Juapa  flows  ! They  were  kept  off  the  region  where  bloom 
the  lilies  or  eternal  peace,  by  a hedge  of  rifles  and  cap-guns. 

“ When  it  is  remembered,”  wrote  Dr.  Guinness  to  Lord  Lans- 
downe,  onthe  29th  of  November,  1905,  in  a letter  recounting  the 
grievances  of  his  mission  at  the  hands  of  the  regenerator  of 
Africa,  “that  the  Juapa  River,  with  its  thirty-two  tributaries,  is 
comparable  in  importance  to  the  Danube  in  Europe,  it  will  be 
understood  how  serious,  from  a missionary  standpoint,  was  the 
expulsion  of  the  agents  of  the  Congo  Balolo  Mission  from  the 
site  of  Bonyeka  which  they  had  selected.  During  the  corre- 
spondence a map  was  kindly  sent  us  with  one  site  indicated 
where  we  were  graciously  permitted  to  settle,  but  this  site 
corresponded  accurately  with  an  uninhabitable,  low-lying, 
fever-stricken  swamp.” 

7'hree  years  ago  Morrison,  the  sturdy  and  eloquent  mis- 
sionary from  Virginia,  a man  whom  to  know  is  to  trust, 
after  vainly  appealing  to  King  Leopold  to  redress  the 
wrongs  inflicted  upon  the  wretched  natives  round  Luebo, 


' Vide  Belgian  Parliamentary  debates,  February-March,  1906. 

190 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


came  home  and  denounced  the  crimes  there  perpetrated  to 
the  world  ; then  he  went  to  Brussels  and  bearded  King 
Leopold’s  principal  secretary  in  his  den — I beg  pardon,  his 
thickly-carpeted,  heavy-curtained  office,  where  reigns  an  air 
of  mystery,  where  converse  is  the  art  of  fence,  where  the 
visitor’s  chair  is  so  placed  that  the  light  may  fall  upon  its 
occupant’s  features  while  the  inscrutable  gentleman  with 
the  pince-nez^  tall,  slim,  trh  correcte^  and  excessively  subtle, 
reclines  in  discreet  shadow.  There,  amongst  other  com- 
plaints, he  protested  against  the  withholding  of  mission 
sites.  Here  was  an  opportunity  ! A few  days  later  all 
the  subsidised  organs  rang  with  the  news  that  Morrison 
had  been  pursuing  “ material  Interests,”  and,  failing  to 
secure  them,  had  launched  his  accusations.  He  was  an 
“infamous  calumniator”  like  the  rest. 

When  H.  B.  M.  consul,  Mr.  Roger  Casement,  visited  in 
the  summer  or  1903  the  station  of  the  Congo  Balolo 
Mission  at  Bongandanga,  in  the  A.B.I.R.  territory,  he  found 
that  the  missionaries  were  being  made  unwilling  and  help- 
less accomplices  in  the  illegal  system — since  condemned  by 
the  Commission  of  Inquiry,  and  persisted  in — of  forced 
levies  of  food-stuffs  upon  the  natives  by  the  officials  of  that 
concern.  All  free  dealing  in  articles  of  food  between 
missionaries  and  natives  had  been  prohibited.  You  see,  the 
missionaries  were  then  writing  home,  denouncing  the 
atrocities  perpetrated  in  their  neighbourhood,  and  this  was 
the  first  form  which  their  punishment  took.  Not  even  an 
egg  could  the  missionaries  buy  from  the  natives  ; all  their  sup- 
plies they  were  compelled  to  purchase  through  the  A.B.I.R., 
which  procured  them  by  the  usual  methods  sacred  to  Congo 
custom  ! Consul  Casement  protested  energetically  to  the 
Governor-General:  “I  have  a right  to  request,  and  one 
that  I would  urge  with  most  respectful  insistence,  that  my 
fellow-countrymen  residing  in  any  part  of  the  Congo  State 
should  not  be  forced,  in  order  to  have  food  for  themselves 
and  households,  to  share  in  measures  which  are  repugnant  to 
the  most  vulgar  sentiments  of  civilised  society.”  * Voluble 
assurances  were  given and  broken  ; and  for  eighteen 


‘ September  11,  1903. 
191 


Red  Rubber 


months  afterwards,  until  the  repeated  representations  of  the 
Congo  Reform  Association  to  the  Foreign  Office  put  a 
stop  to  the  practice,  the  British  missionaries  were  persecuted 
in  all  sorts  of  ways.  Their  food  supplies  were  stopped 
altogether  ; the  natives  were  forbidden  to  sell  them  any- 
thing on  pain  of  instant  punishment  ; natives  were  shot 
and  imprisoned  for  contravening  these  instructions  ; their 
fowls  were  stolen  ; they  were  forbidden  to  cut  wood  with- 
out paying  exorbitant  fees  ; they  were  insulted  and  even 
threatened  by  the  A.B.LR.  officials,  one  of  whom  became 
so  violent  that  the  British  Consul  (a  thousand  miles  away 
insisted  upon  an  armed  guard  being  placed  on  their 
premises  under  an  Italian  officer.  As  recently  as  the 
beginning  of  this  year  a party  of  British  missionaries  itine- 
rating in  the  Upper  Lomako  region  received  written  com- 
munications couched  in  the  most  insolent  terms  (and  in  very 
bad  French)  from  the  local  representative  of  the  A.B.LR., 
ordering  them  to  clear  out.  Here  are  passages  from  these 
letters : — “The  Company  (e.g.,  the  A.B.LR.)  being  Domaine 
Privi,  you  have  no  right  to  sojourn  therein.  . . . Your 
voyage  to  the  Upper  River  cannot  take  place  overland 
without  the  authorisation  of  the  Director  of  the  A.B.LR. 
Company  at  Basankusu.”  * The  latest  form  of  persecution 
to  which  British  missionaries  are  subject  consists  in  that 
of  prosecution  for  criminal  libel  for  reporting  evidence 
tendered  before  the  Commission  of  Inquiry,  in  open  court, 
which  evidence,  as  I have  explained  further  back,  has  been 
suppressed,  because  King  Leopold  is  frightened  that  capital 
might  be  made  out  of  it  by  the  author  of  this  volume  ! ® 
In  reality,  because  he  knows  that  that  evidence,  if  produced, 
would  stagger  European  public  opinion.  Mr.  Stannard  is 
the  first  victim  of  this  ingenuity,  and  at  the  very  time 
these  farcical  legal  proceedings  were  in  process,  his  nominal 
prosecutor,  the  chief  of  police  of  the  district,  was  making 
use  of  the  Press  Bureau  in  Brussels  to  propagate  through- 
out the  world  charges  of  incitement  to  rebellion,  incen- 
diarism and  murder  against  the  defendant  and  another 


‘ On  Sir  E.  Grey’s  demand,  an  “inquiry”  has  been  opened. 
= See  p.  137. 


192 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


missionary,  Mr.  Whiteside  ! Moreover,  a new  law  has 
been  passed  whereby  any  missionary  who  reports  to  a 
Government  official,  or  to  a judicial  official,  outrages  com- 
mitted or  allowed  to  be  committed  by  a white  man,  is  liable 
to  be  tried  for  defamation  and  sentenced  to  five  years’ 
imprisonment  ! As  I write  these  lines,  letters  from  the 
Congo  inform  me  that  native  evangelists  attached  to  British 
mission  stations  have  been  turned  off  the  Bosombo  River 
and  forbidden  to  enter  the  region,  where  probably  some 
devilry  more  pronounced  than  usual  is  taking  place. 

This  sort  of  thing  cannot  be  allowed  to  go  on.  The 
British  Government  is  morally  bound  to  insist  that  from 
this  day  forward  the  British  Missionary  Societies  shall,  in 
accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  Convention,  extend  their 
civilising  labours  where  they  like — aye,  even  in  the  heart  of 
that  inalienable  holy  of  holies,  the  Domaine  de  la  Couronne^ 
— erect  new  stations  at  suitable  sites  (not  pestiferous  swamps), 
have  perfect  freedom  of  dealing  with  the  natives,  and 
generally  benefit  by  the  rights  secured  to  the  subjects  of 
this  country.  British  consular  officers  should  be  increased, 
and  the  slightest  infraction  of  British  rights  should  be  at 
once  reported,  when  the  remedy  is  in  our  hands.  I prefer, 
whenever  possible,  to  quote  the  utterances  of  British  states- 
men when  referring  to  what  Britain  can  do  under  certain 
contingencies,  because  a man  who  has  led  a campaign  of 
denunciation  and  exposure  is  always  liable  to  be  called 
extreme.  On  this  occasion  I venture  to  quote  Lord 
Fitzmaurice  who,  speaking  in  the  House  of  Commons  in 
1904,  said  : “ He  would  venture  to  remind  the  Congo 
Free  State  how  easy  it  would  be  . . . for  Europe,  or, 
indeed,  for  any  State  that  chose,  to  practically  put  an  end 
to  its  existence  by  sending  a few  ships  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Congo.  . . . The  Congo  Free  State  lay  absolutely  at  the 
mercy  of  this  country,  or  any  country,  which  chose  to  say 
that  it  would  occupy  the  capital  of  Boma  in  the  name  ot 
civilisation.” 

It  would  not  be  necessary  to  occupy  Boma  ! A single 
man-of-war  stationed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lower  Congo 
with  orders  to  prohibit  the  entry  or  departure  of  steamers, 
or  craft  of  any  kind,  would  be  quite  sufficient  to  bring 

193  14 


Red  Rubber 


King  Leopold  to  his  knees  if  not  to  his  senses.  The 
blood-stained  rubber  in  the  out-going  vessels  would  be  late 
for  the  Antwerp  market,  and  the  shares  of  the  Trusts 
would  collapse  ; and  in  six  weeks  King  Leopold’s  officials  at 
Boma  would  be  howling  for  the  supplies  contained  in  the 
steamers  due.  Imagine  the  “ superior  ” Congo  official  at 
the  capital  deprived  of  his  tinned  delicacies — even  though 
of  Chicago  manufacture — sweet  champagne,  and  vermouth  ! 
It  is  too  horrible  to  contemplate. 

Lord  Fitzmaurice  is  perfectly  accurate.  King  Leopold’s 
African  enterprise  lies  at  the  mercy  of  this  country.  He 
has  broken  every  promise  he  made  us  under  the  Decla- 
rations and  the  Convention ; instruments  which  concern  us 
and  us  alone.  To  sum  up  : 

We  recognised  a benevolent  and  civilising  enterprise,  not 
a piratical  undertaking ; and  it  is  open  to  us  to  refuse 
steamers  flying  a piratical  flag  access  to  our  waters,  and  to 
give  the  King’s  mischief-making  Consuls  in  this  country 
their  congi. 

We  were  given  pledges  that  our  subjects  on  the  Congo 
would  be  assured  of  justice  and  protection.  They  receive 
neither,  and  we  are  entitled  to  establish  consular  jurisdiction. 

We  were  given  pledges  that  our  merchants  should  be 
unhampered  in  the  conduct  of  their  business.  The  only 
elements  in  the  country  in  which  they  could  conduct 
commercial  transactions  have  been  appropriated  by  the 
King.  Our  missionaries  were  guaranteed  unfettered 
liberty  in  the  pursuit  of  their  noble  aims.  They  are 
interfered  with,  and  now  they  are  being  persecuted  for 
telling  the  truth.  On  both  these  grounds  we  are  justified 
in  taking  drastic  and  immediate  measures  for  the  preser- 
vation of  our  incontestable  rights.  Heaven  knows  we  have 
waited  long  and  patiently,  and  put  up  with  flouts  and  jeers 
which  we  should  have  brooked  from  no  first  or  even  third 
;“ate  Power. 

And  what  is  our  right  has  become  our  manifest  duty 
in  the  general  cause  of  civilisation  and  humanity. 

****** 

Having  passed  in  review  the  various  forms  which  British 

194 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


action  can  take  under  our  Treaty  rights  with  King 
Leopold,  let  us  examine  successively  the  position  Britain 
enjoys  as  a co-signatory  with  other  Powers  in  the  Act  of 
the  West  African  Conference  of  1885  ; her  situation  in  the 
world  to-day  ; the  instrument  which  that  Act  provides  in 
the  event  of  the  infringement  of  its  clauses,  and  the  con- 
siderations of  weight  which  urge  her  to  assume  an  energetic 
initiative. 

I may  be  permitted,  perhaps,  at  the  outset  to  state  with 
deliberate  conviction  which  others  can  take  at  their  own 
evaluation,  but  which  has  not  been  arrived  at  without  consult- 
ing continental  acquaintances  whom  I believe  to  be  well 
informed,  that  a decisive  step  by  this  country  under  her 
own  Treaty  rights,  on  one  or  several  of  the  lines  indicated 
above,  would  in  itself  precipitate  that  renewed  international 
conference  which  Lord  Lansdowne  formally  invited  in 
1903.  I have  been  repeatedly  assured  by  men  whose 
statements  cannot  be  dismissed  that  the  ill-success  of  the 
British  Note  of  1903  was  due — apart  from  the  circum- 
stance that  our  prestige  was  not,  perhaps,  particularly  high 
just  then — to  the  belief  rightly  or  wrongly  entertained  by 
Continental  statesmen  that  the  British  Government  was 
not  in  earnest  in  the  matter,  that  it  had  obeyed  a sudden 
and  forcible  mandate  from  an  uninstructed  House  of 
Commons,  and  that  its  demonstration  was  of  the  platonic 
order.  Students  of  the  Congo  question  will  remember  that 
the  attitude  of  the  British  Government  subsequent  to  the 
issue  of  the  Note  was  not  precisely  calculated  to  remove 
that  impression.  They  will  also  recollect  that  the  issue  of 
the  Note  and  the  later  communication  of  Consul  Casement’s 
report  to  the  co-signatory  Powers,  led  to  a pilgrimage  on 
the  part  of  King  Leopold  to  the  European  Courts  and  to  the 
Elys^e  ; to  a systematic  and  extraordinarily  active  campaign 
in  three  languages  on  the  part  of  the  Press  Bureau,  repre- 
senting the  agitation  in  England  as  confined  to  a small 
group  of  bitter  and  interested  persons,  the  House  of 
Commons  as  victimised  by  false  information,  and  Consul 
Casement  as  an  unreliable  half-fanatic,  half-adventurer  ; 
and  to  the  despatch  of  sundry  “ impartial  investigators  ” to 
the  Congo  who  traversed  the  consul’s  charges,  described 

19s 


Red  Rubber 


the  missionaries  as  perjured  liars,  the  state  of  affairs  on  the 
Congo  as  one  of  Elysian  bliss,  and  the  system  erected  by 
King  Leopold  a species  of  African  St.  Simonism,  et  aimi  de 
suite.  That  these  concerted  efforts,  coupled  with  the 
impression  mentioned,  did  at  any  rate  affect  Continental 
opinion  is  unquestionable. 

The  position  which  Britain  holds  as  one  of  the  signatories 
of  the  Act  of  the  West  African  Conference  is  one  of  quite 
exceptional  moral  strength  as  compared  with  that  of  most 
of  the  other  signatories,  both  as  regards  the  historical  part 
she  played  before  and  during  the  elaboration  of  the  clauses  ol 
the  Act,  and  in  respect  to  her  standing  as  a tropical  African 
Power,  and  a great  commercial  Power,  with  thousands  of 
miles  of  frontier  running  parallel  to  the  “Congo  Free 
State”  in  various  directions.  To  a greater  extent  than  is 
the  case  with  any  one  of  the  other  signatory  Powers  is  it 
possible  to  affirm,  that  but  for  British  acquiescence  there 
would  have  been  no  “Congo  Free  State.”  The  position 
of  France,  Germany,  and  Portugal  alone,  of  the  other 
signatory  Powers,  approaches  in  importance  that  of  Great 
Britain.  France,  because  of  her  long  contiguous  frontier, 
the  fact  that  she  holds  a considerable  proportion  of  the  con- 
verted Congo  stock  (loan  of  1888),  and  by  the  right  of 
preference  or  pre-emption  which  King  Leopold — without 
the  consent,  or  recognition  then,  or  since,  of  the  other 
Powers — made  over  to  her  in  the  event  of  Belgium  defi- 
nitely declining  to  annex,  and  the  “Congo  Free  State” 
coming,  as  it  were,  on  the  international  market.  Portugal, 
because  of  her  contiguous  frontier — which  does  not  greatly 
affect  the  question,  her  frontiers  being  unoccupied,  as  is  the 
case  with  France  to  a large  extent.  Germany,  because  of 
contiguous  frontiers,  the  fact  that  she  is  a great  commercial 
nation,  and  the  circumstance  that  it  was  in  reply  to  a 
German  invitation  and  in  the  German  capital  that  the 
West  African  Conference  was  held. 

Few  will  dispute  that  the  prestige  of  Great  Britain  in  the 
councils  of  the  world  has  seldom  stood  higher  than  it  does 
at  this  moment.  The  ally  of  the  Risen  Sun  in  the  Far 
East ; on  terms  of  close  political  entente  with  France  ; of 
sound  friendship  with  Italy  ; of  historic  friendship  with 

196 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


Portugal ; of  friendship  cemented  by  royal  family  ties 
with  Spain,  Denmark,  and  Norway — all  three  Powers 
(the  latter  with  Sweden,  of  course)  signatories  to  the  Act  ; 
of  blood  relationship  with  the  United  States,  which,  although 
they  did  not  ratify  the  Act,  sent  representatives  to  it  who 
played  an  active  part  in  the  discussion  of  the  Protocols,  did 
ratify  the  Brussels  Act,  and  were  the  first  to  recognise  the 
flag  of  the  International  Association — these  connections 
give  an  aggregate  of  moral  force  to  Britain  which,  if  she 
but  chooses  to  put  her  shoulder  to  the  wheel  and  use  the 
resources  of  her  diplomacy  to  the  utmost,  ought  to  prove 
irresistible.  The  only  cloud  on  the  horizon  is — or  is  sup- 
posed to  be — Germany.  But  not  only  has  “the  first 

diplomatist  in  Europe  ” taken  in  hand  the  improvement 
of  our  relations  with  that  Power,  but  there  are  indications 
in  several  quarters  of  a rapprochement  which,  minus  a few 
fire-eaters,  is  desired  by  both  peoples.  Apart  from  this,  the 
protests  of  the  German  Chambers  of  Commerce,  of  the 
German  Colonial  Society  with  its  thirty  thousand  member- 
ship, and  of  other  public  bodies  in  Germany  against  King 
Leopold’s  African  pretensions  are  on  record,  and  if  those 
protests  have  not  been  renewed  of  late,  it  is  not  because  the 
situation  which  caused  them  to  be  uttered  has  become 
modified,  but  because  the  general  political  relationship 
between  Germany  and  Great  Britain  has  led  to  the  sup- 
pression of  all  manifestations  calculated  to  support  British 
policy  in  any  part  of  the  habitable  globe.  But  the  policy 
of  Germany  in  Tropical  Africa  is  chiefly  commercial  ; she 
seeks,  as  we  do,  outlets  for  her  commerce,  and  in  that 
respect  her  true  interests  and  ours  in  those  regions  are 
identical,  now  as  they  were  in  1885. 

It  is  only  reasonable  to  assume,  therefore,  that  by  earnest 
representations  to  the  co-signatory  Powers — in  hands  so 
sound  as  those  which  hold  the  thread  of  our  foreign  affairs 
to-day — accompanied  by  a friendly  notification  of  our  in- 
tention to  enforce  strictly  and  without  further  delay  our 
own  Treaty  rights,  the  British  Government  can  bring 
about  a conference  of  the  Powers  if  it  will. 

It  is,  perhaps,  less  a matter  of  what  we  can  do,  than  it 
is  whether  we  should  do  it.  The  cons  appear  to  be,  first, 

197 


Red  Rubber 


that  England  may  herself  have  been  guilty  of  infringing 
the  letter  of  the  Act  of  the  West  African  Conference ; 
secondly,  that  as  a nation  our  hands  in  Africa  are  not  clean  ; 
thirdly,  that  King  Leopold,  if  we  drive  him  too  hard,  may 
succeed  in  embroiling  us  with  some  other  Power.  With 
the  last  con  is  mixed  up  a great  deal  of  excessively  vague 
talk  about  “ pan-Germanism,”  secret  treaties,  Belgian 
independence,  fortification  of  Antwerp,  and  what  not.  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  third  and  last  objection  is  unworthy 
of  consideration  by  a great  nation,  in  the  face  of  a clear 
duty  which  brooks  no  denial ; and  discussion  of  its  various 
phases  would  lead  us  into  an  essay  on  contemporary  Euro- 
pean politics  far  removed  from  the  objects  of  the  present 
volume.  It  is  sufficient  to  remark  that  King  Leopold 
plays  a splendid  game  of  bluff,  and  that  if  he  can  bluff  our 
statesmen  into  believing  that  he  holds  all  sorts  of  terrible 
cards  up  his  sleeve  which  he  can  remove  therefrom  and 
brandish  over  their  heads  like  a sword  of  Damocles,  paraly- 
sing their  action  at  pleasure,  he  will  certainly  do  so.  But 
it  is  ranking  our  statesmen  rather  low,  and  the  idea  will 
be  greeted  with  the  most  pronounced  scepticism  and  in- 
credulity by  Englishmen  of  all  parties.  That  King 
Leopold  is  a dangerous  man  and  a malignant  enemy,  we 
know  ; that  he  is  utterly  unscrupulous  and  immoral  alike 
in  his  public  as  in  his  private  life  we  know  also  ; but  in 
Europe  he  is  the  constitutional  monarch  of  a small  neutral 
State,  not  an  autocrat  ruling  by  force  and  violence.  As 
such  his  capacity  for  intrigue  and  evil  has  definite  limi- 
tations, and  in  the  interests  of  his  dynasty  he  must  needs 
keep  them  within  bounds. 

So  far  as  the  first  objection  is  concerned,  two  very 
pertinent  facts  can  be  pointed  out.  The  first  is  that  the 
few  concessions  given  in  British  East  Africa — which, 
it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  are  totally  at  variance 
with  King  Leopold’s  system — were  given  while  Lord 
Lansdowne  was  in  the  Government,  and  that  Lord  Lans- 
downe  is  the  author  of  the  Note  to  the  signatory  Powers 
suggesting  a further  conference.  This  does  not  look  as 
though  we  had  done  anything  very  dreadful  which  need 
hamper  our  action  on  the  Congo.  The  second  fact  is  that 

198 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


Lord  Percy,  speaking  in  the  House  two  years  ago,  declared 
that  Great  Britain  was  “perfectly  willing”  to  submit  the 
terms  of  those  concessions  to  an  international  tribunal,  with 
a view  to  ascertaining  if  they  could  in  any  way  be  regarded 
as  infringing  the  Act  of  1885. 

The  second  objection  has  always  struck  me  as  lamentably 
weak.  In  the  first  place,  the  main  purpose  of  the  West 
African  Conference  of  1885  was  to  deal  with  the  territories 
of  the  Congo  Basin,  and  a renewed  conference  arising  out 
of  the  violation  of  the  clauses  of  the  Act  would  obviously 
be  confined  to  the  same  programme.  Aside  from  this  the 
argument  would,  as  Mr.  Bennett  stated  with  such  admirable 
force  in  the  House  last  July,  “ If  pressed  to  its  conclusion 
stultify  all  human  effort  towards  improvement.”  To  con- 
tend, moreover,  that  any  political  errors  or  individual  abuses 
which  have  occurred  in  Tropical  African  dependencies  are  in 
any  sense  of  the  word  comparable  with  the  system  of  pillage 
and  destruction  deliberately  wrought  on  the  Congo  by 
King  Leopold  and  his  associates  in  the  interest  of  private 
profit,  is  to  exhibit  a lack  of  proportion  and  absence  of 
mental  balance  beyond  the  boundaries  of  reasonable  dis- 
cussion. The  hands  of  no  colonising  Power  are  clean  in 
the  sense  that  no  colonising  Power  has  been  free  from 
political  error,  or  political  injustice,  and  that  no  colonising 
Power  has  been  free  from  the  presence  of  incompetent  and 
vicious  servants  among  it%  personnel  in  colonies  or  dependen- 
cies. Shameful  things  have  been  done  in  British,  French, 
and  German  Africa — especially  in  time  of  war — and  when 
those  shameful  things  have  come  to  light,  public  opinion  has 
denounced  them  and  insisted  upon  redress.  But  here  is  no 
question  of  the  occasional  back-slidings  which  have  marked, 
and  ever  will  mark — especially  when  passions  are  aroused 
locally — the  relationship  of  the  forward  and  backward  races 
of  mankind.  Here  is  a policy  cynically  and  ruthlessly 
elaborated  and  pursued  by  one  man  for  his  own  personal 
ends,  and  for  the  enrichment  of  a handful  of  individuals  at 
the  cost  of  untold  human  suffering.  Here  is  one  man  living 
in  luxury  in  Europe,  claiming  before  the  world  his  right 
to  regard  the  greater  portion  of  Central  Africa  as  his 
private  property,  the  people  inhabiting  it  as  his  serfs,  the 

199 


Red  Rubber 


riches  it  contains  as  his  own,  and  his  power  to  utilise  the 
labour  of  the  people  of  the  land  for  the  acquisition  of  those 
riches,  absolute  and  unquestioned  ! Here  is  raid,  massacre, 
mutilation,  torture,  incendiarism,  and  destruction  visited 
upon  a people,  not  in  a state  of  war  at  all ; but  merely  as 
incidental  features  in  the  raising  of  “ taxation  ” ! 

Since  Pharaoh  enslaved  the  Israelitish  nation  to  minister 
to  his  ambitions,  there  has  been  no  parallel  to  this  ! To 
acquiesce  in  such  a monstrous  emendation  from  a disordered 
brain,  because  the  millennium  has  not  yet  dawned,  would  be 
tantamount  to  committing  moral  suicide.  No  ; that  second 
objection  has  only  to  be  dissected  in  the  light  of  common 
sense  to  be  rejected.  It  is  worthily  inspired,  but,  if 
adopted,  would  lead  Christianity  to  the  abyss  of  self- 
destruction. 

So  much  for  the  cons.  What  of  the  pros?  Above  and 
beyond  them  all  is  the  great  cry  for  Justice  and  Mercy 
which  arises  from  the  Congo  forests.  Can  we  be  deaf  to  it, 
we  who  are  of  the  race  of  Clarkson  and  of  Wilberforce  ? 
Can  we  forget  our  glorious  part  in  the  emancipation  of  the 
negro  race  ? Can  we  forget  that  our  forefathers  in  the  teeth 
of  Parliamentary  opposition,  class  prejudice,  mob  violence, 
fought  a system  hoary  with  age,  and  sanctified  by  custom, 
and  carried  that  fight  to  a glorious  victory.  Can  we  fail  to 
see  the  finger  of  God  pointing  out  to  us  the  path  we  are 
called  upon  to  tread  in  the  extraordinary  coincidence  that 
the  real  awakening  of  the  British  conscience  to  the  great 
Congo  tragedy  synchronises  with  the  Centenary  of  the  most 
noble  act  which  our  historical  annals  record  ? Let  us  reject 
with  indignant  scorn  the  croaking  of  the  pessimists  who  tell 
us  that  our  people  have  deteriorated,  and  that  they  have  for- 
sworn the  ideals  of  their  forbears ! Let  us  prove  to  them  that 
they  are  wrong  ! Let  us  prove  to  them  that  the  heart  of 
the  nation  still  beats  soundly  as  of  yore,  by  the  performance 
of  our  plain  and  simple  duty,  by  saving  the  races  of  Central 
Africa  from  the  grip  of  the  modern  slavers  ! 

Morally  we  would  seek  in  vain  to  escape  from  our 
responsibilities.  Materially  Britain  has  legitimate  con- 
siderations to  invoke  which  impel  her  to  action  in 
the  interests  of  her  own  people  and  in  the  interests  of 

200 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


the  communities  which  in  Africa  recognise  her  flag  and 
enjoy  her  protection.  In  invoking  them  she  deals  a crush- 
ing and  irrecoverable  blow  to  the  basis  of  legal  shams  on 
which  the  rubber  slave-trade  seeks  at  once  to  justify  its 
existence,  and  hide  its  veritable  character.  We  know  that 
the  subtlety  of  jurists  is  seldom  at  a loss.  It  can  be  utilised, 
and  has  been  utilised  again  and  again,  in  the  defence  of  the 
indefensible.  But  before  great  principles  interpreted  by  the 
instruments  of  fairness  and  plain,  straightforward  argument, 
it  breaks  down.  The  subtlety  of  the  jurist  has  been  called 
upon  to  justify  the  pillage  of  the  Congo  Basin  and  the 
enslavement  of  its  inhabitants.  On  the  untenable  premise 
{vide  Section  IV.)  that  King  Leopold’s  African  enterprise 
constitutes  a “ State,”  jurists  have  evolved  the  theory  that  he 
is  entitled  to  lay  claim  to  the  land,  and  the  produce  of 
the  land — e.g.^  its  realisable  wealth — which  can  be  gathered 
only  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  and  to  delegate  in  part  his 
ownership  of  that  land  and  its  produce  to  those  upon  whom 
it  may  please  him  to  confer  such  powers — to  you,  or  I,  or 
any  one.  That,  be  it  noted,  is  the  legal  or  juridical  defence 
of  pillage  and  enslavement  in  Tropical  Africa.  Its  audacity 
is  truly  prodigious.  It  can  be  met  in  argument  by  the 
simple  enunciation  of  a principle  which  is,  and  ever  must  be, 
the  cardinal  feature  of  all  legitimate  European  enterprise  in 
the  African  tropics. 

In  those  whose  labour  is  alone  available  for  the  cultivation 
of  the  land  and  for  the  harvesting  of  its  natural  wealth,  in 
those  is  ownership  of  the  land  and  its  products  vested  ; and 
with  those — the  people  of  the  land — must  the  white  man 
negotiate  on  terms  of  honest  commercial  dealing  if  he  would 
acquire  those  products  of  which  modern  industrialism  has 
need. 

From  this  fundamental  principle  which  regulates  and 
directs  relationship  between  the  white  man  and  the  black  in 
the  African  tropics  (where  the  white  man  cannot  cultivate  the 
soil  or  harvest  natural  wealth),  save  in  the  Congo  Basin  since 
King  Leopold’s  decrees  came  into  force,  there  can  be  no 
derogation.  To  retreat  a single  inch  in  this  regard  is  to 
leave  the  door  wide  open  to  the  buccaneer,  the  pirate,  and 
the  slaver  ; is  to  abandon  the  African  tropics  to  the  rapacity 

201 


Red  Rubber 


of  unscrupulous  speculators  ; is  to  decree  the  enslavement  of 
the  African  races  by  men  who  sit  at  home  and  pocket  the 
dividends,  leaving  their  foul  work  to  be  carried  out  by 
others. 

This  principle  is  termed  Trade. 

Trade  means  barter,  or  exchange.  Between  individuals, 
as  between  communities,  as  between  nations,  it  presupposes, 
and  in  practice  necessitates,  the  possession  on  either  side  ol 
commodities  to  sell  with  which  to  purchase.  In  the  African 
tropics  the  commodities  possessed  by  the  inhabitants  are  the 
raw  products  of  their  plains  and  their  forests,  products  which 
they  alone  can  cultivate  or  gather.  When  transactions  are 
localised  in  far  inland  regions — such  as  the  Congo — involving 
heavy  expenses  on  the  part  of  the  European  purchaser  of  raw 
produce  in  conveying  it  to  the  nearest  port  of  shipment,  the 
only  commodities  which  the  African  can  offer  in  exchange 
for  the  white  man’s  goods  are  rubber,  ivory,  and  a few  valu- 
able resins,  such  as  gum  copal  and  gum  arable.  These  are 
the  only  articles  the  white  man  can  purchase  and  make  a 
profit  on,  for  they  are  the  only  ones  which  will  bear  the  cost 
of  transport  to  Europe.  Be  it  understood,  therefore,  that 
these  commodities  constitute  the  wealth  actual  and  potential 
of  the  African,  apart  from  and  outside  of  his  local  wealth, 
which  is  represented  by  the  extent  of  his  household,  domestic 
slaves  (or  more  accurately,  domestic  servants),  food  planta- 
tions, fishing  grounds,  cattle  (if  the  country  is  cattle  rearing), 
poultry,  and  rude  industries.  Unlike  the  European  in  the 
actual  stage  of  our  evolution,  the  inhabitant  of  Tropical 
Africa  is  not,  in  his  normal  state,  called  upon  to  labour 
more  than  is  necessary  to  supply  himself  and  his  family  with 
food,  shelter,  weapons  of  war  and  the  chase,  baskets  and  nets 
for  fishing,  receptacles  for  culinary  and  domestic  uses,  and 
so  forth.  Moreover,  living  as  he  does  under  a communistic 
society  where  the  chief  is  at  once  the  head  and  the  “ father  ” 
of  the  clan,  his  wants  if  he  falls  sick,  or  when  he  gets  infirm 
and  unable  to  labour,  are  supplied  by  the  clan.  There  are 
no  workhouses  in  the  African  tropics,  and  save  under  the 
stress  of  drought,  or  famine  due  to  failure  in  crops  or  other 
cause,  there  is  no  poverty.  The  labour,  then,  which  the 
African  may  give  to  other  purposes  than  those  of  sustaining 

202 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


life  in  conditions  as  comfortable  as  his  needs  and  ambitions 
dictate,  is  not  necessary  to  life. 

Yet,  throughout  the  African  tropics  wherever  and  when- 
ever the  white  man  has  come  with  commodities  to  sell 
which  the  native  has  not  possessed,  and  has  become  attracted 
by,  the  latter  has  voluntarily  grafted  upon  himself  extra 
labour  in  order  to  gather  and  reap  commodities  produced 
by  his  land  which  the  white  man  required  in  exchange 
for  what  he  brought.  In  this  natural  keenness  of  the 
African  in  the  “ great  Black  Belt  ” to  trade,  lies  at  once 
the  key-note  to  Afro-European  relationship  in  that  Belt, 
and  the  explanation  of  the  white  man’s  presence  therein. 
The  Phoenicians  were  the  first  to  recognise  the  commercial 
instincts  of  the  West  African  native,  and  successive  relays  oi 
white-skinned  peoples  have  followed  their  lead.  The  West 
Central  African  trade  has  grown  to  great  proportions,  and 
with  the  advent  of  the  iron  horse  is  increasing  every  year. 
Its  future  is  incalculable,  and  in  time  West  Central  African 
production  will  appreciably  affect  all  the  markets  of  the 
Western  world.  The  “laziness  and  indifference”  of  the  native 
to  which  King  Leopold,  who  has  robbed  him  of  countless 
millions,  testified  publicly  in  Brussels  last  year,  is  exemplified 
by  the  millions  of  pounds  sterling  worth  of  palm  oil,  palm 
kernels,  mahogany,  rubber,  gums,  wax,  piassava,  ground- 
nuts (and  now  raw  cotton  can  be  added  to  the  list)  which 
every  year  is  brought  to  Europe  in  ocean  steamers,  products 
of  the  voluntary  labour  of  the  African  in  his  own  land, 
owner  of  the  soil,  owner  of  its  fruits,  cultivator  in  his  own 
right,  proprietor  of  his  own  mighty  muscles  ! The  value  of 
all  this  produce  does  return  to  Africa  (“for  which  it  proves  a 
source  of  prosperity  ” — vide  Section  I.)  in  European  and 
American  merchandise,  and  so  the  African  gives  employ- 
ment to  tens  of  thousands  of  European  workmen  and  artisans, 
and  provides  thousands  of  European  families  with  the  where- 
withal to  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life,  in  the  shape  of  wages 
arising  from  the  labour  of  the  African  thousands  of  miles 
away.  When  the  Labour  Parties  of  England  and  the 
Continent  have  realised  that  between  the  labourer  at  home 
and  the  labourer  in  Africa  there  is  practical  community  of 
interest  as  co-partners  in  the  world’s  production,  constructive 

203 


Red  Rubber 


assistance  in  the  problems  connected  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  Tropical  African  dependencies  may  be  expected 
from  them. 

Now,  on  the  Congo,  since  the  Decrees  of  1891,  an 
altogether  different  conception  prevails.  There,  as  I have 
said,  everything  is  abnormal.  Sitting  in  his  royal  palace 
five  thousand  miles  removed  from  his  black  subjects  whom 
he  has  never  seen.  King  Leopold  has  with  a single  stroke  of 
the  pen  robbed  the  native  of  his  entire  wealth,  actual  and 
prospective,  and  calmly  appropriated  it  himself.  So  colossal 
a theft  has  never  been  imagined  by  mortal  man.  The 
rubber  which  grows  in  the  forest  does  not  belong  to  the 
native.  It  belongs  to  King  Leopold  ! And  so  with 
“ dead  ” and  “ live  ” ivory,  and  so  with  the  valuable  resins, 
and  so  with  everything  ! And  observe  how  this  works  out, 
and  must  work  out,  in  practice.  I may  write  down,  “ The 
contents  of  the  Bank  of  England  belong  to  E.  D.  Morel.” 
That  would  be  foolishness,  would  it  not  ? Equally  foolish 
would  it  be  for  King  Leopold  to  write  down,  “ The  wealth 
of  Central  Africa  belongs  to  me” — if  he  stopped  there. 
But  the  regenerator  of  the  negro  race  is  anything  but 
foolish,  and  he  did  not  stop  there.  Having  appropriated 
on  paper,  he  proceeded  to  acquire  in  deed.  So  he  claimed 
the  labour  of  the  people  to  bring  him  their  wealth  which 
he  has  pirated.  There  is  no  need  to  purchase  what  belongs 
to  you,  by  virtue  of  your  royal  will.  So  the  abnormal 
replaces  the  normal.  Armed  force  replaces  trade.  The 
revolution  is  accomplished,  and  the  enslavement  of  the 
people,  so  long  as  that  armed  force  can  be  maintained,  is 
complete.  It  is  marvellously  simple. 

****** 

The  one  weak  part  of  the  British  Note  to  the  Powers  in 
1903  is  the  paragraph  in  which  the  suggestion  is  put  forward 
that  the  question  of  “ commercial  freedom  ” — otherwise 
trade — as  laid  down  in  the  Act  of  the  West  African 
Conference,  should  be  separated  from  the  question  of  the 
treatment  of  the  natives,  and  referred  to  the  Hague  Court. 
But  nothing  is  more  patent  than  that  the  two  questions  are 
inextricably  interwoven.  They  cannot  be  separated.  They 

204 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


make  one.  If  the  right  to  trade  in  the  produce  or  his 
country  is  taken  from  the  native  by  a prima  facie  claim  to 
possession  of  that  produce,  ill-treatment  necessarily  follows 
as  night  follows  day,  for  such  a claim  is  merely  grotesque 
unless  it  be  enforced,  and  it  can  only  be  enforced  by 
compelling  the  native  to  collect  that  produce  through  the 
constant  use  of  armed  coercion,  involving  the  inevitable 
perpetration  of  incessant  outrage,  wholesale  and  detail.  To 
submit  the  effects  of  a given  cause  to  one  international 
tribunal  and  the  cause  itself  to  another  is  surely  amazing 
illogicalness  ? 

I maintain  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  British  Government, 
above  all  Governments,  to  uphold  the  principle  of  trade  in 
the  African  tropics,  in  the  legitimate  interests  of  the  people 
who  have  entrusted  it  with  power.  This  is  no  question  of 
Protection  versus  Free  Trade,  of  irritation  with  other  Powers 
because  they  put  on  differential  tariffs  against  our  goods,  and 
we  should  prefer  they  did  not.  It  is  a question  of  trade 
itself,  the  pivotal  element  which  unites  all  societies,  the  link 
which  binds  together  in  a practical  sense  the  various  branches 
of  the  human  family.  I can  only  attribute  the  peculiar 
horror  which  seems  to  strike  some  worthy  persons  at  the 
mere  mention  of  the  word  “trade”  or  “commerce”  in 
connection  with  the  Congo  problem  to  ignorance  of  the 
essence  of  that  problem,  and  to  forgetfulness  that  the  very 
existence  of  this  country  is  dependent  upon  trade.  Trade 
spells  freedom  for  the  inhabitant  of  the  African  tropics.  Its 
suppression  spells  his  enslavement  by  those  who  deny  him 
the  right  to  own  the  produce  of  his  country,  deprive  him 
of  his  right  to  buy  and  to  sell,  strangle  for  ever  his  economic 
development,  force  him  at  the  end  of  the  lash  and  at  the 
muzzle  of  the  rifle  to  harvest  what  was  once  his  wealth 
before  they  stole  it  from  him,  and  lay  it  at  the  feet  of  the 
despoiler.  Surely  those  who  label  themselves  humanitarians, 
affect  to  look  upon  the  African  as  a cross  between  a babe 
and  a saint  (he  is  neither),  and  boast  of  a superior  moral 
sense,  should  consider  this  aspect  of  the  matter,  if  their 
nerves  are  unwrought  at  what  they  deem  the  utilitarianism 
of  the  other  ? The  plain  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  to  insist 
upon  the  principle  of  trade  relationship  between  the  Euro- 

205 


Red  Rubber 


pean  and  the  Negro  in  his  own  home  as  the  basic  principle 
in  that  relationship  is  synonymous  with  declaring  that  the 
Negro  must  be  treated  (not  as  a half-babe,  half-saint,  to  be 
petted  and  veneered  with  an  outward  culture  altogether 
foreign  to  his  ideas,  leaping  over  twelve  centuries  in  a few 
years)  as  a Man  with  the  rights  of  a Man — not  as  a brute- 
beast. 

To  great  commercial  nations  like  England,  Germany, 
and  the  United  States  the  closing  of  the  greater  part  of 
Central  Africa  to  trade  is  a blow  dealt  straight  at  the 
legitimate  interests  of  the  British,  German,  and  American 
peoples  by  a monarch  whose  “ sovereignty  ” over  the  Congo 
was  recognised  by  them  principally  on  the  ground — vide 
Section  I. — that  his  intentions  were  to  facilitate  in  every 
conceivable  manner  the  development  and  extension  of  trade. 
Stanley,  speaking  at  Manchester  in  1884  in  favour  of  King 
Leopold’s  enterprise,  went  into  flights  of  rhapsody  over  the 
potentialities  of  the  Congo  as  a market  for  British  manu- 
factured cotton  goods.  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  American 
Secretary  of  State,  in  a letter  to  Mr.  Tisdel,  said,  “ Soon 
these  millions  of  people  inhabiting  the  interior  of  Africa 
will,  under  the  inspiring  influence  of  civilisation,  become 
purchasers  of  every  kind  of  provision,  manufactured  goods, 
agricultural  implements,  &c,  and  I see  no  reason  why  the 
people  of  the  United  States  should  not  come  in  for  a large 
share  of  the  valuable  trade  which  must  soon  be  developed 
in  this  region.”  Mr.  Kasson,  the  American  delegate  at  the 
Conference,  congratulated  himself  that  “ we  secure  (by  the 
action  taken  at  Berlin)  the  abolition  of  all  monopolies 
private  or  co-operative.”  ^ 

“ Monopolies  ” have  become  one  gigantic  monopoly, 
going  far  beyond  a monopoly  of  trade,  which  signifies  the 
right  of  a certain  party  to  be  the  exclusive  purchaser  of 
produce  in  a given  region  ; involving  claim  to  personal 
possession  of  the  very  elements  of  trade,  thus  doing  away 
with  the  need  of  purchase  altogether.  An  owner,  let  it  be 
repeated,  is  not  called  upon  to  purchase  what  belongs  to 
him  ! 


' North  American  Review,  February,  1886. 
206 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


“ The  importance  of  the  rich  prospective  trade  of  the 
Congo  valley  has  led  to  the  general  conviction  that  it 
should  be  open  to  all  nations  on  equal  terms,”  said  President 
Arthur  in  his  message  of  December,  1884. 

It  is  not  only  closed  to  all  nations,  it  is  extirpated  ! 
“The  fundamental  idea  of  this  programme  is  to  facilitate 
the  access  of  all  commercial  nations  in  the  interior  of 
Africa,”  declared  Bismarck  at  the  opening  of  the  Congress. 
“ Freedom  of  trade — remarked  Lord  Vivian  at  the  Brussels 
Conference  in  1890 — was  established  in  the  interests  not 
only  of  civilisation  but  of  the  native  races  of  Africa.” 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  representatives  of  the  great 
commercial  nations  saw  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of  in 
consecrating  aloud  the  principle  of  trade  in  the  Congo 
basin.  Why  should  Englishmen  be  afraid  of  upholding 
that  principle  to-day  ? Lest  they  be  accused  of  “ ulterior 
motives  ” ? Where  are  the  “ ulterior  motives  ” ? They 
are  not  “ ulterior,”  they  are  actual,  legitimate,  com- 
mon-sense. They  should  be  boldly  proclaimed,  insisted 
upon.  The  British  merchant  has  the  right  of  erecting 
factories  and  trading  with  the  natives  all  over  the 
Congo,  even  in  the  Domaine  de  la  Couronncy  for  all  its 
inalienability  ! That  every  square  yard  of  the  territory 
should  be  claimed  by  King  Leopold  and  his  financiers,  and 
everything  of  economic  value  thereon,  matters  not  one  jot. 
The  claim  is  preposterously  impudent.  British  trade,  with 
or  without  the  medium  of  the  British  merchant,  has  the 
right  to  penetrate  into  every  corner  of  the  “Congo  Free 
State.”  That  King  Leopold’s  principal  secretary  in 

Brussels  should  inform  the  British  Government,  in  effect, 
that  trade  is  impossible  on  the  Congo  because  “ there  are  no 
longer  any  unappropriated  lands  there  ” is  mere  insolence. 
That  the  same  official  should  declare  in  reference  to  the 
British  Note  that  it  “confuses  the  utilisation  of  his 
property  ” — that  is  King  Leopold’s  property,  e.g.,  8oo,ooo 
square  miles  in  Central  Africa — “by  the  owner” — that  is 
King  Leopold — “ with  trade  ” — that  is  the  right  of  the 
natives  to  buy  and  to  sell — and  that  “ the  native  who 
collects  on  behalf  of  the  owner  ” — King  Leopold — “ does 
not  become  the  owner  of  what  is  so  collected,  and  naturally 

207 


Red  Rubber 


cannot  dispose  of  it  to  a third  party  ” * is,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  King  Leopold’s  Manifesto  of  1906,  the  most  cynical 
avowal  of  wholesale  spoliation  ever  penned.  What ! The 
Power  to  which  King  Leopold  came  on  bended  knees 
twenty-two  years  ago  begging  for  support,  calmly  informed 
to-day  by  the  same  Potentate  that  the  British  merchant, 
and  that  British  trade  are  shut  out  from  Central  Africa, 
because  it  has  pleased  him  by  a stroke  of  the  pen  to 
substitute  himself  for  the  native  as  the  owner  of  the  com- 
mercial wealth  of  Central  Africa,  and  that  consequently  the 
native  has  nothing  to  exchange  for  British  goods  ! In  very 
truth  the  proposition  is  laughable  in  its  audacity.  To  use 
an  historic  phrase  “Enough  of  this  foolery.”  Aye,  and 
more  than  enough,  for  it  exercises  itself  not  only  at  the 
expense  of  the  legitimate  interests  of  great  nations,  but  at 
the  price  of  African  blood  shed  in  torrents,  and  African 
misery  unportrayable  in  words. 

And,  finally,  there  is  another  reason  why  Britain  should 
decline  any  longer  to  recognise  the  pretensions  of  King 
Leopold.  To  every  Power  holding  possessions  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  his  “ fine  stations,”  and  in  proximity  to 
the  operations  of  his  ivory  and  rubber-raiding  officials,  the 
seizure  and  collection  by  armed  force  of  his  revenues,  is  a 
positive  danger  and  disturbance.  The  presence  of  a lawless, 
marauding  soldiery  ever  increasing  in  numbers,  and  only 
held  in  nominal  discipline  by  the  conferring  of  full  free- 
dom to  loot  and  rape  is  a menace.  The  erection  of  frontier- 
forts  armed  with  heavy  guns,  a threat.  The  importation  of 
enormous  quantities  of  ball  cartridges  and  ammunition  to 
make  rubber,  a la  Congolaise,  which  includes  the  provisioning 
of  fighting  clans  with  material  of  war  to  force  rubber  in 
the  royal  interest  from  their  weaker  neighbours,  when  the 
“ regulars  ” are  employed  elsewhere,  is  & peril  which  it 
would  be  folly  to  ignore.  Two  great  rebellions  of  native 
soldiery,  which  brought  the  “Congo  Free  State”  almost 
toppling  to  the  ground,  have  occurred  in  the  last  ten  years. 
Even  the  fort  at  Shinkakassa  just  outside  Boma,  the  capital, 
was  seized  a few  years  ago  by  the  garrison  exasperated  with 


‘ Memorandum,  September  17,  1903. 
208 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


the  treatment  of  their  women  by  King  Leopold’s  officials, 
who,  terrified  out  of  their  lives,  ran  hither  and  thither  like 
scared  rabbits,  for  all  their  gold-lace  and  impeccable  ducks : 
Boma  itself  being  saved  from  destruction  only  by  the 
ignorance  of  the  mutineers  in  the  working  of  the  time-fuse  ; 
and  from  pillage,  by  the  action  of  a brave  British  coloured 
subject  of  Lagos,  who  organised  his  compatriots  from  the 
British  West  African  colonies  (settled  in  various  capacities 
at  Boma)  into  patrols,  which  marched  through  the  town, 
and  who  was  destined  later  on  to  be  hounded  to  a suicide’s 
grave  by  the  malignity  of  the  men  he  had  rescued.* 
Bands  of  these  revolted  soldiery  have  on  several  occasions 
invaded  and  committed  havoc  in  the  contiguous  British 
possessions,  and  to  this  day  hold  parts  of  the  Congo  territory 
into  which  no  official  dare  set  foot.  Any  moment  may 
bring  forth  another  and  graver  revolt,  and  any  day  may  see 
the  rise  of  an  intelligent  native  corporal  with  a brain  above 
his  fellows,  some  bastard  Arab  blood  in  his  veins  perhaps, 
who  will  make  a bold  bid  for  empire  against  the  officials  of 
the  absentee  landlord.  And  over  all  the  land  broods  the 
shadow  of  a great  crime,  filling  the  breasts  of  the  miserable 
people  with  an  undying  hatred  of  the  accursed  white  man 
and  all  his  ways.  Given  the  slightest  chance  at  combina- 
tion, given  a leader,  given  a favourable  set  of  circumstances, 
and  the  smouldering  embers  will  burst  into  a flame,  and 
the  conflagration  might  well  spread  until  every  official  of 
the  King  with  his  throat  cut  had  been  flung  into  the  river. 
It  would  be  a just  retribution,  but  what  sort  of  task 
would  confront  the  criminal  apathy  of  Europe  ! Sir  Harry 
Johnston  is  not  given  to  sensationalism,  or  rash  predictions, 
but  this  is  what  he  wrote  in  1902 — four  years  ago,  before 
the  charges  against  King  Leopold’s  enterprise  were 
thoroughly  established — “ if  all  the  stories  are  true  of  the 
wickedness  perpetrated  in  the  Congo  Free  State  since  1885 
there  will  some  day  be  such  a rising  against  the  white  man 


* Mr.  H.  A.  Shanu,  who  held  a store  in  Boma  much  patronised 
by  the  officials.  Denounced  in  1904  for  the  heinous  crime  of 
communicating  with  me,  he  was  boycotted  by  official  instructions, 
his  business  ruined,  and  himself  reduced  to  despair.  Shanu 
was  a man  of  the  highest  integrity  and  honourable  standing. 

309  15 


Red  Rubber 


and  such  punishment  inflicted  on  European  interests  in  the 
heart  of  Africa  as  will  surpass  any  revolt  that  has  ever  yet 
been  made  by  the  black  and  the  yellow  man  against  his 
white  brother  and  overlord.”  To  watch  with  philosophic 
eye  this  cauldron  of  native  discontent  and  misery  fed  with 
the  ingredients  or  a civilised  barbarism,  go  seething  on,  is 
madness.  Arguments  drawn  from  the  necessity  of  keeping 
up  the  “ prestige  ” of  the  white  man  in  the  African 
tropics  do  not  appeal  to  me  very  much,  for  the  surest 
foundation  for  the  maintenance  of  such  is  justice,  “even- 
handed,  tiger  justice,”  as  poor  Mary  Kingsley  used  to  say, 
but  I often  wonder  that  the  White  Powers  can  continue 
their  supine  contemplation,  while  deeds  are  done  in  the 
Congo  Basin  which  brand  with  indelible  infamy  the  white 
race  in  the  eyes  of  the  black,  deeds  which  in  Lord 
Fitzmaurice’s  words  “ make  civilisation  ashamed  of  its 
name,”  deeds  which  cry  to  Heaven  for  vengeance,  and  for 
which,  some  day,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  a fearful  penalty 
will  be  enacted. 

****** 

The  Act  of  the  West  African  Conference  provides  a 
weapon  which  can  be  wielded  against  the  “ civilised 
barbarism  ” introduced  by  King  Leopold,  with  or  without 
the  convocation  of  a renewed  Conference  of  all  the 
Signatory  Powers  of  that  Act,  a weapon  which  requires  but 
five  of  the  Signatory  Powers  to  make  up  their  minds  to  use. 
(Act  i)  That  weapon  is  the  “Navigation  Commission” 
which  has  never  been  invoked,  although  the  essential 
clauses  of  the  Act  have  been  violated  with  impunity  for 
fifteen  years.  The  question  of  navigation  on  the  Congo 
waterways  is  intimately  bound  up  with  the  question  of  the 
trading  rights  of  European  merchants  and  of  the  natives, 
for  it  is  obvious  that  freedom  of  navigation  is  a misnomer  it 
trade  is  non-existent ; consequently  the  general  question  of 
maladministration,  misrule  and  spoliation  is  also  involved. 
Indeed  the  idea  entertained  by  the  Plenipotentiaries  of  the 
Powers  at  Berlin  in  providing  for  a Navigation  Commission, 
was  clearly  concerned  with  the  protection  of  trade.  Thus 
M.  de  Kusserow,  one  of  the  German  delegates  at  the 

210 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


Conference,  declared  (Prot.  3 :-sitting  November  27,  1884), 
that  in  the  view  of  his  Government  freedom  of  trade 
should  not  be  left  unsupervised  {sans  controie\  and  he  added 
“The  International  Navigation  Commission  appears  to  it 
(the  German  Government)  a competent  instrument  to  be 
provisionally  entrusted  with  this  supervision.”  Moreover 
the  Act  itself  as  signed  by  all  the  Powers  is  explicit. 
Article  25  reads,  “ This  provision  of  the  present  Act  of 
Navigation  shall  remain  in  force  in  time  of  war.  Con- 
sequently all  nations,  whether  neutral  or  belligerent,  shall 
be  always  free,  for  the  purposes  of  trade^  to  navigate  the 
Congo,  its  branches,  affluents  and  mouths  as  well  as  the 
territorial  waters  fronting  the  embouchure  of  the  river.” 

The  powers  enjoyed  by  this  Commission  as  provided  in 
the  Act,  would  be  as  considerable  as  those  enjoyed  by  the 
Danube  River  Commission.  They  would  be  virtually 
sovereign  powers,  in  regard  to  everything  affecting  naviga- 
tion, and  who  controls  navigation  in  the  Congo  basin 
controls  the  arteries  and  veins  of  the  “Congo  Free  State.” 
It  is  “ independent  of  the  territorial  authorities  ” (Art.  20). 
The  Powers  composing  it  “can  have  recourse”  to  their 
own  ships  of  war.  It  can  raise  loans  (Art.  23). 

In  short,  the  appointment  of  this  Commission  would  be 
the  stepping  stone  for  that  wider  and  closer  international 
control  of  the  Congo  which,  failing  the  possible  but 
unlikely  solution  of  Belgian  annexation  on  lines  acceptable 
to  public  opinion^  honour  and  safety  alike  demand  shall  no 
longer  be  delayed. 

With  these  considerations  I bring  this  chapter  and  with  it 
this  volume  to  a close.  I have  indicated  the  specific  courses 
of  action  which  are  open  to  Great  Britain  under  her  own 
Treaty  rights, — rights  which  no  Power  would  dream  of 
contesting,  and  I have  given  expression  to  a widely  spread 
conviction  that  the  adoption  by  Great  Britain  of  one  or 
more  of  the  steps  denoted  would  compel  international 
interference.  To  these  I may  here  add  that  Great  Britain 

‘ Let  it  be  clearly  understood  that  what  I mean  to  convey  is 
not  the  doubt  that  the  Belgian  people  would  desire  to  do  the 
right  thing,  but  the  doubt  of  their  being  in  a position  to  do  it. 
Vide  last  chapter. 


2II 


Red  Rubber 


would  appear  to  be  entitled  (with  or  without  the  appoint- 
ment of  a Navigation  Commission)  to  place  a gun-boat  on 
the  Upper  Congo,  and  that  she  ought  to  do  it  on  behalf  of 
her  own  subjects : and,  I hasten  to  add,  other  Powers 
would  seem  to  have  precisely  the  same  option  in  that 
respect.  I have  given  reasons — and  no  one  can  deny  that 
they  are  grave,  legitimate,  and  weighty  reasons — why  Great 
Britain  should  drop  the  policy  of  vain  expostulation 
pursued  for  ten  years,  and  take  energetic  measures  to  abide 
by,  and  if  necessary  to  enforce,  her  Treaty  rights  in  her 
own  justifiable  interests;  and  I have  proved,  I venture  to 
think  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  reasonable  persons,  that  in  so 
acting  Great  Britain  would  be  serving  the  general  interests 
of  humanity.  With  respect  to  the  position  of  Great 
Britain  as  one  of  the  signatory  Powers  of  the  Act  of  the 
West  African  Conference  I have  shown  how  preponderating 
is  that  position  in  regard  to  the  corresponding  position  of 
most  of  the  Signatory  Powers ; how  great  is  the  prestige 
of  Great  Britain  abroad  at  the  present  moment  : how 
immensely  important  are  the  issues  at  stake  : how  duty 
and  honour  summon  the  British  Government  to  a vigorous 
initiative.  Finally,  I have  drawn  attention  to  the  very 
definite  instrument  which  the  Act  of  the  Conference  pro- 
vides for  the  invocation  of  practical  international  control 
over  the  vast  fluvial  system  of  the  Congo. 

What  remains  to  be  said  can  be  embodied  in  a couple  of 
paragraphs. 

Nothing  impracticable,  nothing  unrealisable  is  being 
demanded  on  behalf  of  the  Congo  natives.  No  grand- 
motherly legislation,  no  sentimental  claims  are  being  urged 
in  their  interest.  Only  justice.  They  have  been  robbed  of 
their  property.  We  demand  that  their  property  shall  be 
restored  to  them.  They  have  been  robbed  of  their  liberty. 
We  demand  that  their  liberty  shall  be  restored  to  them. 
They  are  bound  in  chains.  We  demand  that  those  chains 
shall  be  rent  asunder.  For  fifteen  years  they  have  been 
degraded,  enslaved,  exterminated.  We  demand  that  this 
shall  stop,  not  fifteen  years,  or  five  years,  or  one  year  hence  : 
but  now. 

The  “Congo  Free  State”  has  long  ceased  to  exist.  It 

212 


What  Great  Britain  Can  Do 


has  given  place  to  a political  monster  and  international 
outlaw.  Of  that  political  monster  and  international  out- 
law, but  one  thing  can  be  said  or  written,  Delenda  est 
Carthago. 

The  reek  of  its  abominations  mounts  to  Heaven  in  fumes 
of  shame.  It  pollutes  the  earth.  Its  speedy  disappearance 
is  imperative  for  Africa,  and  for  the  world. 


E.  D.  MOREL. 


213 


Zbc  (Prcebam  presf, 

UNWIN  BROTHERS,  LIMITED, 
WOKING  AND  LONDON. 


r. 


Date  Due 

fH/V  ^ 

iv’jij  n 

p 21)08 

(i 

PRINTED 

IN  U.  S.  A. 

